MASTER 
NEGA  TIVE 

NO.  91-80145 


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AUTHOR: 


HOPKINS,  TIGHE, 
1856-1919 


TITLE: 


MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK 


PLACE: 


LONDON 

DA  TE : 

1901 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Master  Negative  # 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


944.033 
H77 


Hopkins,  Tighe,  1856-19 1  9 

The  man  in  the  iron  mast,  by  Tio'he  Honlrina  t 

don,  Hurst  and  Blackett,  lindted,  1901.     ^        " ' '  •^"'' 

XV,  a,.  368  p.  inc..  front,  plates,  ports.,  facsims.    fold,  plans.  20i™ 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


1.  Mattioli,  Ercole  Antonio.  1640-1701     9   u™ 
J^jQno  o.  1040-1703.    3.  France-Hist.       i.  Title. 


Library  of  Congress 


944 


K^ 


DC130.M38H7 


1-84238/4 

F398 


TECHNICAL  MICROFORM  DATA 


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IMAGE  PLACEMENT:   lA  HIaJ  IB    IIB 

DATE     FlLMED:__2/3o/^_ INITIALS__G^G^__ 

HLMEDBY:    RESEARCH  PUBLICATIONS.  INC  WOODBRTDCF.  PT 


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**— 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK 


ffcB4    '61 


*-.. 


PROLOGUE. 

'*  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy  name,"  cried  Jacob, 
wrestling  with  the  dark  adversary  at  Peniel.  So 
have  successive  generations  of  writers  striven  with 
that  plaguy  ghost  of  history,  the  Man  in  the 
Iron  Mask,  and  have  vairlly  entreated  his  name. 
But  it  has  at  last  been  spoken.  The  mask  has 
dropped  from  him,  behind  which  he  lurked,  it  seemed, 
impregnably. 

The  solution  of  this  diplomatic  mystery  of  two 
centuries,  the  *' ultimate  dim  Thule "  of  sp  many 
speculations,  brings  forward  no  new  appellant.  It 
disposes  finally  of  a  host  of  pretenders  (whose  claims, 
however,  were  for  the  most  part  quite  abandoned  in 
the  nineteenth  century),  but  it  seeks  the  tragic  honours 
of  the  mask  for  no  fresh  candidate.  This  may  be 
a  disappointment  to  some,  for  what  is  most  fabulous 
in  this  history  has  at  least  been  richest  in  dramatic 
surprises ;  but  to  others,  and  especially  to  those 
who  have  followed  the  progress  of  research  in 
France,  and  who  are  not  unacquainted  with  the 
earliest  true  surmises  on  the  subject,  it  will  be 
rather  gratifying  to  discover  in  the  victim  of  Louis 
XIV.*s  vengeance  that  Mattioli  who  was  first  put 
forward  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago — whose 
pretensions  .to   the   mask   have   been   canvassed,  de- 


; 


vin 


PROLOGUE. 


bated,  approved,  assailed,  rejected,  renewed,  and  are 
now  reduced  to  demonstration. 

History  has  allowed  a  long  innings  to  guess- 
work, tradition,  and  invention  in  all  that  has  con- 
cerned the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask.  But  the  truth 
is  that  she  has  been  ready  to  come  into  her  own, 
to  yield  up  the  secret  of  the  Mask,  almost  any 
time  since  the  opening  of  the  century.  The  right 
kind  of  research,  and  the  dogged  patience  which 
nothing  but  Q.  E.  D.  will  satisfy:  ^^/mwoSx  she 
asked  in  payment.  The  unlocking  ot^rchives  has 
left  few  problems  of  history  unresolyfed  ;  and  when, 
after  the  Revolution,  those  curious  documents  were 
disclosed  which  Louis,  his  ministers,  his  ambassadors, 
and  his  gaolers  had  penned  in  full  security,  it  was 
certain  that  the  true  tale  of  the  Masked  Man  must 
some  day  get  the^Jii^nefit  of  print.  Louis  XIV. 
had  his  revenge  of  Mattioli.  History  has  had  hers 
of  Louis  XIV.  I  cannot  think  that  the  story  misses 
much  in  human  interest  by  the  elimination  of  the 
large  element  of  fable ;  but  the  fact  remains  that 
to  a  reader  of  old  French  history  it  presents  no 
extraordinary  feature.  The  mask  itself  excepted 
(and  the  unimportant  character  of  that  too  celebrated 
disguise  is  hereafter  shown),  the  fate  of  Mattioli 
was  neither  exceptional  nor  uncommon.  It  accorded, 
if  not  entirely  with  French  jurisprudence,  at  all  events 
with  the  administration  of  French  justice.  It  was 
of  a  piece  with  the  system  under  which  political 
and  other  offenders  always  might  be,  and  usually 
were,  dealt  with:  arbitrary  arrest,  arbitrary  im- 
prisonment, and  arbitrary  punishment,  with  or  with- 


% 


PROLOGUE, 


IX 


out  the  form  of  trial  by  a  court,  packed  as  Richelieu 
generally   packed    his,   to    ensure    conviction.     Trial 
and   sentence  were  both  dispensed  with  in  Mattioli's 
case ;  but  in  the  days  of  the  "  bon  plaisir   royal  et 
ministeriel,"  which  were   long   before   and    long  after 
the  days  of  Richelieu,  those  formalities  were  easily 
forgone.     So    lightly   were    subjects    of    all   degrees 
imprisoned  under  the  monarchy,  and    so  readily  for- 
gotten  in   prison,   that  when   a   prisoner    died    after 
years  of  captivity,  the  very  Minister  by  whose  order 
he  had  been  confined,  and  who  had  been  informed 
of  his   demise,  would   often    request   to   be    told  the 
reason  of  his  detention.     The  close  of  the  qipeteenth 
century   has   shown   us   that  justice   in    France    can 
still  be  *a  thing  of  very  small  security  to  a  prisoner 
at    the   bar  ;    and    the   epoch  under  consideration   in 
this   volume  begins  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  seven- 
teenth  century.     That   a   needy  and   obscure  Italian 
diploma,  and  adventurer,  having  tricked,  flouted,  and 
infuriated  a  sovereign  of  the  temper  of  Louis  XIV., 
should  end  his  days  in  the  Bastille,  is    not  a  matter 
to   excite   even   the   most   trifling   degree  of  wonder. 
Still,    the    documents    to    be    offered    to   the    reader 
present,  with  some   new  lights,  a  remarkable  picture 
of    more   thart    one    phase    of    imprisonment    under 
the 'old    regime;    and   in    Saint-Mars   we   have   the 
typical  State  gaoler  of  the  age,  incorruptibly  faithful 
to   his  charge,   inflexible   almost   to    cruelty,   callous 
to    the    sufferings    of  '  his     prisoners,     and     in    his 
private   aspect  a  miser  growing  richer  and  richer  at 
the    expense    both    of    the    prisoners    and    of    the 
publi^treasury. 


[P<1IW    i*^" 


r 


X  PROLOGUE. 

The   credit   of  the    identification  of  Mattioli  with 
the  Mask  belongs,  as  one  thinks  it  should  belong,  to 
France.      The    beginnings  of  what  constitute  history 
on   this,  subject — history  more   or  less  exact  at  the 
outset — are  set  forth  in  the    Introduction,  and    more 
minutely  in  the  second  part  of  the  volume.     Delort, 
whose    Histoire  de   V Homme   an   Masque  de   Fer  is 
seventy-five    years   old,   was    the    first   to   publish    a 
really    useful   collection    of   documents.     Elsewhere  I 
have  explained  how,  owing  to  the  incompleteness  of 
the   series   he    had    access    to,    his   system    came    to 
grief.     Forty-five  years  later  appeared  Marius  Topin's 
LHomme   an    Masque   de    Fer,   which    is   still   as   a 
whole  the  best  and   most  complete  narrative  extant 
But    even    Topin    left   something   undone  ;   and    his 
proof  is  not  absolute.     His  is  the  merit,  nevertheless, 
of  having  first  spread  the  light  upon  the  whole  field 
of  enquiry  ;  and  he  it  was  who  brought  the  case  for 
Mattioli   triumphantly  to   the   front   again,  when  the 
one   signal   error    of   Delort   and  his  contemporaries 
seemed  to  have  left  it  for  ever  in  uncertainty.     Had 
the  investigation  ceased  with  Topin,  an  impartial  critic 
of  his  work  might  well  have  decided  that  unless  and 
until  this  hypothesis  were  completely  overset,  Mattioli 
should    be   received    as   the  Man  in   the   Iron  Mask. 
The  crowning  proof,  decisive  and  irrefutable,  might  be 
to  seek  ;    but  testimony  and  inference  alike  fastened 
the   mask   upon  Mattioli.     This   hypothesis   has    not 
been  overset.     It  has  been  carried  further,  and  con- 
firmed.    The  solution  of  M.  Frantz  Funck-Brentano, 
ratified  by  the  common  assent  of  scholars  in  France, 
has  satisfied  every  doubt.     Scarcely  glancing  at   the 


i'- 


PROLOGUE. 


XI 


history  of  the  affair,  summarising  all  in  a  few  pages 
of  irresistible  and  translucent  argument,  he  has  laid 
the  great  enigma  bare.* 

Thetre  is  a  Legend  of  the  Iron  Mask,  and  there 
is  a  History  of  the  Iron  Mask.  Of  the  Legend, 
only  a  small  portion  (and  that,  .perhaps,  the  most 
ridiculous)  is  known  to  the  generation  of  to-day  : 
with  the  History,  the  detail  of  it,  this  generation  is 
almost  of  necessity  unfamiliar,  since  no  volume  has 
yet  embraced  the  whole.  Legend  and  History  are 
here  brought  together  and  contrasted.  The  best 
and  the  most  foolish  stand  side  by  side ;  the  incredible 
transmutations  of  the  Legend,  and  the  precise  facts 
of  the  true  and  rather  simple  History.  A  certain 
political  transaction,  not  of  the  highest  importance, 
nor  of  the  most  unusual  kind,  took  place  two  hundred 
years  ago  in  France.  Out  of  this  transaction  has 
arisen  the  most  extraordinary  fable  pf  modern  times. 
But  truth  has  done  her  tardy  office  ;  and  the  moral, 
somewhat  worn,  speaks  for  itself. 

*I  refer  to  the  chapter,  **l^ Homme  au  Masque  de  Fer,"  in 
M.  Funck-Brentano's  Ugendes  et  Archives  de  la  Bastille,  Paris  : 
Hachette  et  Cie.,  1898.  Second  edition  1899.  Crowned  by  the  French 
Academy.  An  excellent  translation  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  George 
Maidment  has  since  been  published  by  Messrs.  Downey  and  Co. 


in    n  <fr 


] 


CONTENTS. 


PROLOGUE. 

Introduction. — The  Sphinx  of  French  History        ...        3 

PART  I.— THE  MAN  IN  THE  MOON. 

CHAPTER   I. 

THE  DEATH  OF  VERMANDOIS. 
Points  worth  Remembering — Sources  of  the  legend — **  A  Con- 
tribution to  the  History  of  Persia  "—A  **  Persian  "  Romance 
of  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV.— Louise  de  la  Valli^re— The 
Count  of  Vermandois — The  anonymous  Romance  examined — 
Vermandois  at  the  Siege  of  Courtrai— His  Sickness  and  in- 
contestable Death— Burial  at  Arras — Vermandois  not  the  Man 
in  the  Iron  Mask    .........       27 

CHAPTER   H. 

THE  ELDER  KROTHER  AND  THE  TWIN. 
Branches  of  thiji  System — Developments  under  the  First  Empire 
— Baron  de  Gleichen — Louis  XIV.  **a  mere  bastard" — A 
Discovery  missed  by  Dumas — Voltaire  and  the  Elder  Brother 
— This  Version  perishes  with  the  Revolution — Queen  and 
Cardinal — Absurdities  of  Voltaire'^  Story — Soulavie  and  the 
Twin — Soulavie's  Supporters — Choice  of  Dates       ...       48 

CHAPTER   HI. 

THE  INFATUATION  OF  BUCKINGHAM. 
Buckingham  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XIII. — Paris  amazed  at  his 
Prodigality — A  Retinue  of  six  or  seven  hundred  Persons — 
Buckingham  falls  in  love  with  Anne  of  Austria — Anne  never 
alone  with  him — Amiens — Buckingham's  declaration — Amiens 
again — The  Scene  in  the  Queen's  chamber — Anne  sees  Buck-  _^ 
ingham  for  the  last  time — Marie  de  Medici's  statement  to 
Louis  XIII. — Not  a  vestige  of  Proof       .         .         •         .         •       7' 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  ACQUITTAL  OF  THE  QUEEN. 
Early  days  of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Louis  XIII. — The  Girl's  en- 
thusiasm and  the  Boy's  indifference — The  Marriage — '*  almost 
a  question  of  State  " — Richelieu  and  the  young  Queen — Illness 
of  Louis  XIII.  in  1630 — Reconciliation — Birth  of  Louis  XIV. 
— Ceremony  and  precautions  at  the  birth  of  a  Child  of  France 
— What  of  the  Twin  ? — Soulavie's  story  examined  in  Detail — 
Louvois's  visit  to  the  Mask  disproved — The  Silver  Dish  and 
the  Linen  Shirt — History  repeats  that  **  the  Iron  Mask  was 
not  a  son  of  Anne  of  Austria  "        .         .         .         .         .         .86 


1 


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Ativami     •ftvi4>*tt        Mwia    H4r 


CONTENTS,  xiii 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH. 
Character  of  Monmouth — His  conduct  at  Sedgemoor — In  the 
presence  of  James  II. — The  System  which  makes  Monmouth 
the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask — Extraordinary  character  of  Saint- 
Foix's  **  proofs" — From  the  Cafe  Procope  to  the  Ixjudoir 
of  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth — Execution  and  Burial  of 
Monmouth .         .         .114 

CHAPTER   VI. 

"the  king  of  the  MARKETS." 
The  systbne  Beaufort  is  the  especial  snare  of  age — Lenglet- 
Dufresnoy,  Lagrange-fhancel,  and  Anquetil — Beaufort  and 
Monmouth — Beaufort  a  Lumpkin  at  Court  but  a  Leader  in 
the  Field — The  market  people  dub  him  their  King — Beau- 
fort Appointed  Admiral — His  change  of  front — Lenglet-Dufres- 
noy's  theory — The  siege  of  Candia — Panic  and  rout  of  the 
French — Beaufort  missing — The  Dates — Was  the  Man  in  the 
Mask  a  Nonogenarian  ?  .         .         •         .         •         .         •         •     ^39 

CHAPTER   VII. 

THE   TRAGEDY    OF    NICOLAS    FOUQUET. 
Bibliophile  Jacob  makes '  Fouquet  the  Masked  Man — An  earlier 

XXX 

conjecture — **  64,389,0001^ ^-     " — The  author  of  this  jest 

unknown — ^The  fable  revived  by  Lacroix — Louis  XIV.  re- 
solves upon  the  overthrow  of  Fouquet — His  arrest  at  Nantes 
in  166I' — A  special  Court  formed  to  try  him — A  **  Seventeenth 
Century  Warren  Hastings  affair" — The  Judges  in  favour  of 
banishment — Louis's  decree  of  perpetual  imprisonment — Sup- 
position on  which  Lacroix's  hypothesis  rests — Fouquet  in  the 
dungeon  of  Pignerol — Gradual  improvement  in  his  lot — His 
wife  and  family  allowed  to  visit  and  stay  with  him — Fouquet*s 
death  of  apoplexy,  March  23rd,  1680 — Impossibility  of  agree- 
ing with  Lacroix — Theories  of  Ravaisson,  Loiseleur,  and  lung 
— * 'Oblivion  has  looked  upon  them  all '*        .... 

"^PART  il.— THE  MAN  IN  THE  MASK. 

CHAPTER  1. 

THE  INTRIGUE  FOR  CASALE. 
Italian  policy  of  Richelieu — Gradually  abandoned  .by  Louis 
XIV. — The  **  Military  diplomacy  "  of  Louvois — Character 
and  situation  of  Charles  IV.,  Duke  of  Mantua — Casale — Louis 
covets  this  Stronghold  —  Intrigue  begun  in  1676  —  Abl>^ 
d'Estrades — Ercole  Antonio  Mattioli — D'Estrades  employs 
Giuliani  to  sound  Mattioli •        •181 


158 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


192 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  RIPENING  PLOT. 
The  Situation— D'Estrades  to  Louis  XIV.— Mattioli  selected  to 
conduct  the  affair — He  wins  the  Duke  of  Mantu  I's  consent  to 
the  sale  of  Casale — The  Duke  ambitious  of  a  military  com- 
mand under  Louis — Mattioli  to  Louis — Louis  to  Mattioli — 
Louis  to  send  an  army  into  Italy — ioo,cxx)  crowns  to  Ix:  paid 
for  Casale  —  Louis's  conditions  —  Everything  agreed  to — 
Charles  in  a  hurry  to  conclude  the  affair — Midnight  conference 
between  Charles  and  d'Estrades — Mattioli  to  go  to  Paris 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE  TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLI. 
Delays  are  now  upon  the  French  side — Mattioli's  journey  post- 
poned— D'Estrades  precedes  him  to  France — Mattioli  ill — 
Off  at  last — The  Treaty — Mattioli  has  audience  of  Louis — 
Preparations  on  the  Frontier — Louis  to  Charles  of  Mantua — 
The  French  impatient  while  the  Italians  begin  to  lag — Alarms 
— D'Asfeld  seized  by  the  Governor  of  Milan — Mattioli  sus- 
pected— D'Estrades  to  Mattioli — Mattioli  betrays  the  plot 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  VENGEANCE  OF  **  THE  MOST  GENEROUS"  KING. 
Details  of  Mattioli's  treason — His  motives  ? — Rage  at  the  Court 
of  France — How  shall  Mattioli  be  dealt  with  ? — Louis 
sanctions  the  proposal  of  d'Estrades — The  King's  Orders — 
The  Abbe's  ruse — The  rendezvous — Mattioli  falls  into  the 
trap — Is  made  prisoner  by  Catinat — Search  for  the  papers — 
The  King  is  avenged — Mattioli  given  out  as  dead — His  family     227 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE  DUNGEON  OF  PIGNEROL. 
Pignerol  in  the  17th  centur}' — Saint-Mars  :  the  gaoler  quintessen- 
tialised — His  manner  of  guarding  his  prisoners — Mattioli 
becomes  the  *' Sieur  Lestang " — Is  to  be  treated  **with 
severity  " — Tempc^rarily  insane — The  mad  Jacobin — The  King 
— Fifteen  years  in  Pignerol      ...... 


206 


250 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR. 
The  first  attempts  to  prove  that  Mattioli  was  the  Man  in  the 
Mask — Delort — His  omissions — Mattioli's  fellow-prisoners  at 
Pignerol — Saint-Mars  receives  the  command  of  Exiles — The 
question  is,  What  prisoners  went  with  him  ?  Who  was  the 
prisoner  who  died  of  dropsy  ? — Sudden  disappearance  of 
Mattioli's  name  from  the  correspondence  of  Louvois  and 
Saint- Mars — Deductions  of  Loiseleur 


270 


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CONTENTS,  XV 

CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  MISSING  LINK  REVEALED  BY  TOPIN. 
The  history  of  the  Mask  not  contained  in  any  single  set  of 
documents— Topin  takes  up  the  trail— Keasons  why  Saint- 
Mars  should  have  been  afraid  to  take  Mattioli  to  Casale— 
iVas  Mattioli  at  Exiles  or  not  ?— The  Missing  Link— Mattioli 
was  never  at  Exiles— He  re-appears  accordingly  in  the  history.     285 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  PRISONER  OF  CONSEQUENCE. 
The  Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite— Arrival  there  of  Saint-Mars  in 
1687— Mattioli  still  in  Pignerol— Saint-Mars  at  his  ease— The 
mandate  of  February  26th,  1694— Reasons  for  the  transfer  of 
the  three  prisoners  from  Pignerol— Louis  XIV.  falling  on  his 
evil  days — The  mysterious  journey — After  the  death  of 
Fouquet  and  the  release  of  Lauzun,  Mattioli  was  the  only 
"prisoner  of  consequence"  at  Pignerol— New  measures  of 
precaution— Mattioli,   "  your  ancient  prisoner "       .         .         .     296 

CHAPTER   IX. 

THE     SILVER     DISH. 
A  Prisoner  of  State  under  the  Monarchy— Mattioli  and  other 
State  Prisoners— Fable  does  duty  for  History— Origins  of  the 
legends  of  the  Silver  Dish  and  the  Linen  Shirt—The  Guitar- 
Fact  and  fable  in  the  history  of  the  Iron  Mask         .         .         .     312 

CHAPTER   X. 

THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.  - 
Saint-Mars  is  transferred  from  Sainte-Marguerite  to  the  Bastille 
— He  is  to  bring  with  him  his  ** ancient  prisoner" — From  the 
Isles  to  Paris— The  halt  at  Palteau— Letter  of  the  grand- 
nephew  of  Saint-Mars— The  entry  in  Du  Junca's  Journal— 
The  Mask  is  a  mystery,  and  remains  a  mystery,  to  the  slaflf  of 
the  Bastille — But  in  the  course  of  time  his  importance  ceases 
—He  is  displaced  in  the  Bastille  by  a  fortune  teller — Eflect  of 
this  upon  the  Legend — Origin  of  the  story  of  the  whitewashed 
cell— Death  and  burial  of  the  Mask— His  name  ;  his  ace— 
"Marchioly,"  **Marthioli,"  Mattioli    .         .         .         .         .     323 

CHAPTER   XL 

Q.    E.    D. 
The  mask  itself  unimportant  in  the  History — But  the  mask  gives 
rise  to  the  Legend— Mattioli  the  Man  in   the    Mask  ?— The 
proof  set  out— The  Five  Prisoners— Louis  XV.  and  Louis  XVI. 
— Madame  Campan — Charles  of  Mantua  in  Paris    .         .         .     350 


l^..MIBaakiM 


*   ■!•■  '■'!    m      1 


w         •    «  •■ 


■^■^H^'  ■     I    •  ■ 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

The  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask,  according  to  the  Popular 

Legend Frontispiece 

Louis  XIV.  at  the  Age  of  Twenty-eight  ...  31 
Louis,  Comte  de  Vermandois  ...  .  .  '37 
Louise  de  la  Valliere,  as  a  Carmelite  Nun  .         .       44 

Voltaire -53 

Anne  of  Austria        .......       62 

George  Villiers,  first  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  his 

Assassination     .....••       75 

Anne  of  Austria  and  her  Sons 81 

Louis  XIII.      .         .       , 89 

Cardinal  Richelieu  .....••  100 
Cardinal  Mazarin      .         .         .         .         .         •         .107 

Charles  II. 117 

The  Duke  of  Monmouth 123 

James  II. 129 

The  Execution  of  Monmouth  on  Tower  Hill      .         -135 

Francis  de  Vendome i47 

Nicolas  Fouquet 166 

Louis  XIV .         .185 

Plan  of  the  Town  and  Citadel  at  Pignerol  to  face  page  216 
Plan  of  the  Dungeon  of  the  Citadel  at  Pignerol 

to  face  page     228 

Louvois  .  .  .  .  .  •  .  .  .231 
Plan  of  the  Chateau  of  Exiles  .  .  to  face  page  250 
Panorama  of  Pignerol  (Pinerolo)  at  the  present  day  .  259 
Plan  of  the  Fort  of  Sainte-Marguerite  to  face  page  264 
The  Fort  and  Chateau  of  Exiles  in  1681  .  .  .  279 
A  Corner  of  the  Fort  of  Exiles  ....     287 

Isle  and  Fortress  of  Sainte-Marguerite  at  the  present 

day  . .293 

Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Bastille,  1 6th  and  17th  centuries  325 
Entry  in  the  Register  of  the  Bastille  ....  ^t^ 
Entry  in  the  Register  of  Saint  Paul's  .         .         .     345 

Burial  Certificate  of  the  Masked  Prisoner  .         .         .     359 


M 


f  ■ 


i 


< 

s 

i 


The  Man 
in  the 
Iron  Mask 


IJY 

TiGHE   Hopkins 

AUTHOR   OF 

"The  Silent  Gate:   A  Voyage  into  Prison, 
"An  Idler  in  Old  France,"  "The  Dungeons  of  Old  Paris, 

"  Lady    Bonnie's    Experiment," 

ETC 


»i 


»> 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1 90 1 

Alt  rights  reserved 

LIBRARY 

STATE  UNIVERSITY 

AGRICULTURAL  AND  TECHNICAL  cGLLfSC 

AT  FARMINnOALE.   NEW   YORK 


*A*1jIA1 


■  nil  1  J       M 


lllMI      ■'■I      ■■ 


mmtm 


i*A 


I 


The  fv\an  in  the  lror\  fy^ask 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask. 

According  to  the  Popular  Legend. 


t 


s 


/f 


V. 


Tr 


II       ■     >      ■     mm 


hi      i      I 


1    ' 


■ 


INTRODUCTION. 

An  arrival  at  the  Bastille,  September, 
1698,  has  been  the  cause  of  more 
French  discussioii  than  any  other  event  in 
the  notable  history  of  that  fortress. 
It  was  Thursday,  i8th  of  the  month,  and 
three  of  the  afternoon.  Armed  men  on 
horseback  surrounded  a  closed  litter,  from 
which,  when  all  was  sure,  descended  a  meagre, 
silent  figure,  Saint-Mars,  Louis  XIV/s  most 
trusted  gaoler.  He  had  come  to  the  Bastille 
for  the  first  time,  having  just  received  its 
command.  The  entry  of  a  new  governor 
would  naturally  be  of  no  small  moment  to 
the  staff,  whose  future  lay  between  his  hands  ; 
but  curiosity  was  immediately  transferred  from 
Saint-Mars  to  the  prisoner  who  accompanied 


z^ 


4  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

him.  The  prisoner's  face  was  hidden  by  a 
mask  of  black  velvet,  a  disguise  in  which  no 
one  had  ever  before  been  brought  to  the 
Bastille.  The  unhappy  man  was  already  a 
mystery,  before  even  he  had  set  foot  within 
the  prison  which  was  to  be  the  third  and 
last  of  his  long  captivity.  No  one  knew 
him,  who  he  was  or  what  he  had  done 
that  Saint-Mars  should  have  him  in  this  ex- 
traordinary keeping.  Together,  Gaoler  and 
Mask,  they  had  traversed  France  from  far 
Provence,  travelling  always  in  this  secure 
fashion,  by  silent  ways.  At  the  chateau 
and  domain  of  Palteau,  a  property  of  Saint- 
Mars,  a  halt  had  been  made ;  and  the 
peasants  of  the  estate  who  came  out  to  meet 
their  lord  preserved  and  passed  on  as  a 
tradition  the  memory  of  that  strange  visit. 
The  mask,  once  seen,  seems  to  have  haunted 
the  dullest  fancy.  In  itself  it  was  no  way 
remarkable  ;  a  little  black  velvet   mask :    what 


<&imj< 


40iu9daY3-sfdl4hi 


.  f. 


THE  SPHINX  OF  FRENCH  HISTOR  Y.       5 
affected  the   mind  was  the   circumstance   that 
the    person    who    wore    it     was     a    prisoner. 
T/iis      was     something     entirely     unwonted. 
The  peasants  observed   that   when   the   table 
was  served  the  prisoner  was  always  kept  with 
his  back  to  the  window,  they  noted  the  pistols 
at  the  hand  of  the  vigilant   Saint-Mars,   and 
the  two  beds  ranged  together  in  the  sleeping- 
room. 

The    officers     of     the     Bastille    had    been 
apprised,  and  the  King's  lieutenant.  Du  Junca. 
whose    careful     diary     will    be    opened,  .had 
prepared  for  the  prisoner  "  the  third  room  of 
the  Bertaudiere  tower." 

Five  years  later,  after  one  day's  illness, 
November  19.  1703.  this  prisoner  died  in  the 
Bastille.  His  end  was  so  rapid  that  he  did 
not  receive  the  solace  of  the  sacrament ;  the 
chaplain  "  exhorted  him  a  moment  before  he 
died."  As  dusk  fell  on  the  next  afternoon  the 
drawbridge  was  lowered,  and  a  sorry   funeral 


6  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

passed  out,  which  took  its  way  to  the  graveyard 
of  the  church  of  St.  Paul :  behind  a  rude  coffin, 
two  turnkeys  of  the  priison.  A  furtive,  per- 
functory burying,  scarcely  even  decent;  into 
his  hasty  grave,  probably  by  lantern-light,  the 
turnlceys  unknown  lowered  the  unknown  dead, 
and  that  was  the  end.  On  the  church's 
register  was  inscribed  the  name  of  Marchioly. 
In  the  Bastille  they  had  known  him  as  the 
prisoner  from  Provence, 

This  is  that  mysterious  creature,  the  problem 
of  whose  identity  has  bewitched,  impassioned, 
and  embroiled  six  generations  of  enquirers. 
The  incontestable  facts  are  these:  that  in  1698 
Saint-Mars  conducted  to  the  Bastille  a  prisoner 
who  died  there  five  years  later;  that  he  was 
known  in  the  Bastille  as  the  prisoner  from 
Provence  ;  that  his  unique,  unhappy  memory 
survived  his  death  in  the  prison,  and  overran 
the  world.  These  are  the  simplest  data  of  the 
problem  that  lies  before  us.     Twenty-four  years 


M  ■ —.    ^mmmrrf^fi'mrfmwr^m'^  M\ 


'9L% 


i^m^dawa-ffalJini 


THE  SPHINX   OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      7 

/i679_i703)  in  the  obscurity  of  prison;  at 
the  end  of  that  period,  an  obscure,  untended 
death-bed,  and  a  hurried  and  obscure  inter- 
ment ;  some  further  years  of  oblivion,  and  then 
there  arises  and  steals  from  that  graveyard 
of  St.  Paul  this  ghost  that  shrouds  its  face, 
intent  upon  an  odd  revenge,  the  torment  and 
insoluble  conundrum  of  historian,  fabulist, 
novelist,  dramatist,  essayist  and  gossip— the 
Sphinx   of  French    history :   the  Man   in   the 

Iron  Mask. 

The   sole    question   to   resolve   is :    Whose 
was  the  face  which  the  mask  concealed  ? 

The  happy  acumen  of  Topin  instructs  him  at 
once  as  to  the  false  path  on  which  his  predeces- 
sors, with  scarcely  an  exception,  had  set  fprth. 
Voltaire  had  said  :  "  What  is  doubly  astonishing 
is  this,  that  when  the  prisoner  in  question  was 
sent  to  the  Isles  of  Sainte- Marguerite,  there 
did  not  disappear  from  Europe  any  personage 
of  note."      The  Mask  had   lain   fifteen   years 


•-:•  ■»>••   jr 


8 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


4 


in  the  dungeon  of  Pignerol  before  they  trans- 
ferred him  to  Sainte-Marguerite,  but  Voltaire, 
than  whom  never  a  writer  has  approached  this 
theme  with  so  complete  a  lack  of  information, 
did  not  take  that  fact  into  account.  The 
statement  just  brought  forward  stimulated 
and  obsessed  all  minds.  Who  of  note  did 
vanish  from  European  scenes  between  the 
date  of  Mazarins  death  (1661)  and  1703? 
That  must  be  the  way  ,to  seek  the  truth 
about  the  Iron  Mask!  Thus  was  begun  the 
**  monstrous  brood  *'  of  all  those  theories  and 
systems  which  have  darkened  counsel  on  this 
subject.  In  pieces  of  sundry  sorts,  waiting 
to  be  sifted  and  joined  together ;  in  official 
despatches,  epistles,  reports,  memoranda ;  in 
certain  live  pages  of  the  Bastille's  archives,  the 
true  history  of  the  Masked  Man  was  lying 
all  this  while  unheeded,  unthought  of.  The 
•  hunt  was  elsewhere — anywhere,  everywhere 
but   where   the  quarry  couched.     They    were 


\ 


■  i  T 


i  • 
i  < 


\  ; 

;i 

1 

I- 


THE  SPHINX  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      9 

all    wanting  to  come  upon   the   track  of  that 

'*  person    of    importance ''    who     must     have 

been  thrust   out   of  sight   while    Louis    XIV. 

was   on    the   throne!     Was    it    a    brother    of 

Louis  ?       Was     it     Vermandois  ?       Was     it 

Monmouth  ?     Was     it     Beaufort  ?     Was     it 

Fouquet  ?     The   least   resemblance   found   or 

imagined,    the   mask   was   clapped   on,    and  a 

new    discovery  given  to  the   world.      **  Never 

an    Indian  deity,"   says   Paul  de   Saint-Victor, 

**  has    undergone    so    many    metempsychoses, 

so  many  avatars."     To  one  incarnation  of  the 

Mask  succeeds  another  and  another  ;   system 

topples   upon   system  ;  but  the    Sphinx  keeps 

hold    on    the    secret.       During    thirty    years 

(says    Topin)    Voltaire,    Freron,    Saint-Foix, 

Lagrange-Chancel     and     Fere     Griffet    were 

cutting     and     slashing     one     another     most 

brilliantly,  in  a  joust  in  which  each  adversary 

found    it    easier    to    demolish    the    opinions 

opposed    to    him    than    to   maintain    and    win 


*AJiYa( 


iaiudd«o-  «  folani 


lO 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


acceptance  for  his  own.  In  Topin's  day 
fifty-two  writers,  sharing  among  them  twenty- 
five  different  hypotheses,  h^d  essayed  to  look 
behind  the  mask,  and  Vicomte  Maurice 
Boutry  extends  the  h'st  to  sixty,  not  embracing 
the  legion  of  anonymous  contributors  to 
periodicals  and  dictionaries.*  Would  the 
problem  ever  be  expounded  ?  This  intermin- 
able series  of  defeats — system  and  system 
built  up  in  years  and  shattered  in  an  hour — 
ended  by  producing  one  curious  but  not 
unnatural  result.  Since  no  one  could  identify 
the  Mask,  might  it  not  be  that  the  Mask 
had  never  lived  }  Here  was  perhaps  some 
prodigious  myth,  and  nothing  more.  Critics 
less  sceptical,  but  despairing  of  the  truth, 
averred    the    question     beyond     human    ken. 

*  In  how  many  works  on  the  Bastille  there  is  mention  of  the  Man 
in  the  Iron  Mask,  I  cannot  pretend  to  say.  The  library  of  the 
British  Museum  contains  40,000  treatises  on  this  famous  dungeon  of 
pre- Revolutionary  Paris.  Thus,  reading  at  the  impossible  rate  of 
one  a  day,  it  would  take  above  a  hundred  years  to  exhaust  the 
collection. 


I 


^AVJil 


aoiU9dJitD-ss9l4iii 


\ 


. 


5 


THE  SPHINX  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      1 1 

'*  The  history  of  the  Iron  Mask,''  says 
Michelet,  **  will  probably  remain  for  all  time 
in  obscurity."  And  Henri  Martin :  ''  History 
is  debarred  from  giving  judgment  on  what 
will  never  pass  beyond  the  confines  of  con- 
jecture.'* 

But  the  curiosity  of  the  world  has  never 
been  appeased.  Irritated,  checked,  baffled, 
and  a  hundred  times  defeated,  it  has  come 
again  to  the  quest.  The  itch  spread  far  ; 
England,  Germany,  and  Italy  helped  France 
to  confuse  the  issue,  to  draw  the  mask  a  little 
tighter  over  those  inscrutable  features. 

A  secret  well  kept  during  many  years  is 
greatly  liable  to  distortion  when  it  begins  at 
last  to  emerge  from  the  comfortable  dark  of 
legend  and  tradition.  Indeed,  it  may  become 
twenty  or  more  dissimilar  histories  before  it 
has  been  properly  divulged.  At  one  era  and 
another  the  secret  of  the  Iron  Mask  has  been 
fi ve-and-twenty  secrets  at  the  very  least.     In 


uM4*dttuasi 


12  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

the  lifetime  of  Louis  XI V.  it  was  preserved  with 
a  cunning  and  fastness  scarcely  to .  be  believed. 
Was    ever    gaoler   so   mum    as    Saint-Mars? 
That  mute,  uneasy  shadow,  perpetually  plagued 
by  fears  for  the  safety  of  his  prisoners,  now 
with  an  eye  at  the  key-hole  and  now  crouched 
among  the  branches  of  a  tree  to  spy  unseen, 
never  in  four-and-twenty   years  gave   up  the 
secret   which   he  held   inviolable  by  order   of 
the  King.     In   the   fifteen  years  the  prisoner 
was   captive   at    Pignerol,    in   the   four  years 
he  lay  at  the  Isles,  in  the  five  that  brought 
his  tragedy  to  a  term  in  the  Bastille,  no  sub- 
ordinate officer  of  either  place  had  learned  so 
much  as  his  name.     From  Du.Junca's  journal 
we  shall  see   presently   that  even  the   King's 
lieutenant   got   it   by    mere 'hazard   after   the 
prisoner's    death.     And    the    Court    was    not 
better    informed     than     the     Bastille.       The 
omniscient  Saint-Simon,  the  Greville  of  France, 
had   never  an    inkling   of  the   matter.     That 


\\ 


: 


r 


\  \ 


^ 


THE  SPHINX  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      13 


unbridled  gossip,    the    Princess  Palatine,    who 
spent  half  the  day  at  her  desk  inditing  scandal 
to   her   family  and   friends   abroad,  was  com- 
pletely  wide  of  the  mark.*     Supposed  at  one 
time   to  rank  among  the  prerogatives  of  the 
crown,  history  has  proved  that  this   was   not 
the  case  with  the  sombre  secret  of  the  mask. 
Madame    Campan    will   show   us   that    it    was 
unknown  to  Louis  XVI.     Napoleon  expressed 
a   lively   regret   at    not  being   able   to   satisfy 
his    curiosity.      Louis-Philippe    discussed    the 
problem  frequently,  but  confessed  his  ignorance 
of  the  solution  ;  and  if  certain  other  sovereigns 
pretended  to  the  knowledge,  the  contradictions 
of  their  statements  sanction  the  inference  that 
they  were  not  more  correctly  instructedf 

»  "I  have  just  learned,"  writes  Madame  from  Versailles,  October 
22,  171 1,  who  was  the  masked  man  who  died  in  the  Bastille.  His 
wearing  a  mask  was  not  due  to  cruelty.  He  was  an  English  lord  who 
had  been  mixed  up  in  the  affair  of  the  Duke  of  Berwick  (natural  son 
of  James  H.)  against  King  William.  He  died  there  so  that  the  King 
might  never  know  what  became  of  him.*' 

t  Topin. 


^kX'^A^ 


JldlUdd4«3- 


himmiliii 


tmm 


I 


u 


TBE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


Here,  then,  indeed  was  a  Secret  of  the  State 
consummately  preserved,  not  only  during,  but 
after,  the  lifetime  of  the  monarch  whose  inte- 
rest it  was  to  safeguard  it.  **  See  that  no  one 
knows  what  becomes  of  this  man!'  *  Such  was 
the  private  peremptory  order  of  Louis  XIV. 
to  his  minister,  Abbe  d'Estrades  ;  and  he  was 
obeyed.  Clearly,  therefore,  this  would  be  a 
hard  secret  to  come  at,  until  the  sole  right 
method— the  search  for,  and  disentombing 
of,  the  documents — was  chanced  upon. 

But  both  the  writers  on  this  mystery  and 
their  readers,  in  England  as  in  France,  have 
displayed,  for  the  most  part,  a  rather  singular 
perversity.  It  would  be  fastidious,  if  not 
altogether  idle,  at  this  day  to  make  inquest  on 
the  motives  which  led  so  many  authors  of 
erudition,  ingenuity,  and  exceeding  patience  to 
beguile  the  public  with  the  notion  that  they 
had    found    beneath    the    mask    the    features 

*  "  Ilfaudra  que  personne  ne  s^ache  ce  que  cet  homme  sera  devenuy 
Louis  XIV.  to  d'Estrades  :  April  28th,  1679. 


"•wr 


■  II. im   III  I    ll^iyi  p  ■><!!  JW^I".!' I 


la  iU9d  JYD-  s  f  ol  aiii 


^^ 


A 


i 


\ 


THE  SPHINX  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      15 

of  Vermandois,  or  Monmouth,  or  Beaufort,  or 
the  Armenian  patriarch  Avedick— nay,  even 
of  Moliere  himself!  Assuredly  the  scandal- 
hunters  were  not  for  nothing  in  this  affair, 
and  no  doubt  some  private  vengeances  were 
served  by  certain  theories  which  offered  not 
the  veriest  semblance  of  reality.*  In  some 
other  instances,  when  mere  malignity  has  not 
motived  the  enquiry,  the  prepossessions  of 
authors  with  fixed  ideas  have  lured  them  far, 
and  left  them,  in  the  end,  the  victims  of 
irreducible  dilemmas.  A  conjecture  is  reared 
into  a  system;  such  facts  as  favour  it  are 
adopted  as  readily  as  the  facts  in  opposition 
are  rejected.  When  the  list  of  famous  men 
comprised  within  the  historical  period  is  ex- 
hausted, the  period  is   audaciously  extended; 

»  Thus,  there  were  those  who  pretended  to  discover  Under  the 
mask  a  son  of  the  Duchess  HenrietU  of  Orleans  and  Louis  XIV.  ; 
a  son  of  HenrietU  of  Orl&ns  and  the  Comte  de  Guiche ;  a  son  of 
Christine  of  Sweden  and  Monaldeschi  ;  a  son  of  Marie-Ther^ 
(wife  of  Louis  XIV.)  and  the  negro  servitor  whom  she  had  brought 
from  Spain ;  a  son  of  Cromwell,  etc. 


1 6         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

and  a  complacent  public   has   been   asked  t( 
accept  some  effigy  of  an  Iron   Mask  alive  ii 
1706,  three  years  after  the  attested  death  oj 
the    prisoner    of    Saint-Mars.      Avedick,    th- 
Armenian  patriarch,  whose  claims  to  the  ma^k 
were  advocated  by  the   Chevalier  de  Taulcjs, 
was    not    carried    off  until    1706.     M.    Eniile 
Burgaud  fixed  on  General    Vivien   Labbe  de 
Bulonde  ;  but  "  M.  Geoffroy  de  Grandmaison 
published  in  the   Univers  of  January  9,  1895, 
two  receipts  signed  by  General  de   Bulonde, 
one  in    1699,  when  the   Masked  Man  was  in 
rigorous  isolation    in    the   Bastille;    the   other 
in  1705,  when  he  had  been  two  years  dead."* 
It     would     seem,     indeed,     that    scarcely     an 
author  has  come  quite  single-minded  to  this 
task.      There  need  be  no  general  implication 
of  bad    faith ;    it   is  sufficient    to  suggest   that 
the   majority    of    these  defenders    of   systems 
not  defensible  were  anxious  first  to  get  their 

*  Funck-Brentano. 


1 


THE  SPHINX   OJP  FRENCH  HISTORY,      17 

literary  profit  out  of  a  topic  of  perennial  in- 
terest, and  unwilling  afterwards  to  admit  the 
truth  that  must  undo  them.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, in  this  way  that  things  are  proved,  this 
is  not  the  way  of  science  ;  and  perhaps  no  sub- 
ject perplexing  to  history  has  remained  longer 
in  doubt  from  the  common  disregard  of  the 
just  historical  method. 

But  the  offence  in  chief,  the  mischief  of 
the  fable  which  has  run  throughout  the  world 
to  the  hurt  of  a  woman  and  a  queen,  should 
be  attached.  It  attaches  immediately  to 
Voltaire.  Here,  indeed,  we  must  conclude, 
was  malice  prepense.  First  he  prepares  his 
audience  by  an  attractive  hint  or  two  ;  retires 
then,  and  watches  the  effect.  Nothing  could 
be  better ;  we  are  all  agog :  as  much  more  of 
this  as  you  please.  So,  without  the  least  em- 
barrassment on  the  author's  part,  the  horrid 
hoax  is  launched,  and  starts  forthwith  upon 
its    travels.       It   was    a    piece   of    quite    un- 


i8  THE  MAN  IN   THE  IRON  MASK, 

I 

I 

scrupulous   sensationalism,    skilfully    imagined, 
but — as    there    will    be    occasion    to   show — 
elaborated  with  little   art,  and   with  less  than 
no    regard    for    consistency.     None   the   less, 
there  were  in  it  all  the  elements  of  an  abiding 
popularity ;  it  had  the  romantic  quality,  it  was 
royally    scandalous,     it    disclosed    a    seeming 
State   secret  of  capital    significance,    it    soiled 
the  honour   of  a   queen:  for   a   hundred  and 
fifty  years  it  has  represented  to  the  many  the 
whole    entrancing    truth    of  the    Man    in  the 
Iron     Mask.      But    the    proofs.?     Ah!    there, 
indeed,  we  are  speedily  confounded.     M.  Vol- 
taire apparently  forgot  that  history,  sooner  or 
later,    would   be    wanting    to    know   what   he 
meant    by    it— this    titillating    fable     of    her 
Majesty's    amours    and    the    semi-royal    child 
resulting  from  them,  who  was  to  end  his  days 
as  the  prisoner  of  the  mask.      On   Voltaire's 
part    not    an    ounce   of  real    proof  was   ever 
offered,    and    the    researches  of  scholars  have 


( 


THE  SPHINX  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      19 


iV. 


clearly  demonstrated  that  none  ever  could 
have  been  offered,  since  none  was  ever  in 
existence.  Of  all  the  systems  of  the  mask 
this  one  is  the  most  denuded  of  testimony. 
The  utmost  rigour  of  investigation  has  failed 
to  shew  that  Anne  of  Austria  had  any  part  in 
the  affair  of  the  Iron  Mask  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  it  has  shewn  conclusively  that  she  had 
none.  At  the  time  it  was  begun  the  queen 
had  been  dead  nearly  twelve  years.  Let  it  be 
added  that  this  baseless  hypothesis  has  "long 
been  abandoned.  The  last  writers  who  ad- 
hered to  it  date  from  the  revolutionary 
period.''  * 

But  the  public  partiality  for  Voltaire's  egre- 
gious version  is  perhaps  not  wonderful.  A 
king's  brother  in  the  mask — it  was  really  a 
very  fine  notion !     The  accessories,  too,  were 

*  Funck-Brentano. — In  fiction,  the  system  which  is  an  extension 
of  Voltaire's  has  enjoyed,  of  course,  the  prepotent  championship  of 
Dumas,  in  the  novel  beloved  of  Louis  Stevenson,  The  Vicointe  de 
Bragelonne, 


\ 


20  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

all  so  captivating  to  the  fancy.  If  that  damn- 
ing resemblance  to  Louis  XIV.  existed  (a  pity 
Voltaire  could  not  contrive  to  prove  it!),  the 
necessity  for  the  mask  is  patent ;  and  pray  let 
it  be,  not  the  ** light  Venetian  mask''  of  velvet 
which  in  reality  it  was,  and  which  was  of  uni- 
versal use  among  the  upper  classes  in  Italy, 
but  the  right  melodramatic  article,  the  *'iron 
mask"  with  the  steel  chinpiece,  a  mediaeval 
instrument  of  torture,  which  could  not  have 
been  borne  for  a  week  ;  and  let  the  poor  High- 
ness wear  this  day  and  night  for  four-and-twenty 
years.*     This  was  something  like  romance! 

Nor  was  this  all.     Who  parts  willingly  with 
the    other   adjuncts    which    time    has   grouped 

*  I  have  never  seen  the  old-fashioned  play  on  the  subject  of  the 
Mask,  which,  no  longer  known  to  London,  is  still  faring  up  and  down 
the  country ;  a  version  possibly  of  the  once-admired  piece,  Le  Masque 
defer,  by  Fournier  and  Arnould,  first  given  at  the  Paris  Odeon  in 
1831.  But,  cycling  through  Canterbury  in  the  falling  light  of  an 
October  afternoon,  I  obser\'ed  the  placid  thoroughfares  of-  that  city 
aflame  with  pictures  of  the  drama.  Here  was  the  Man  in  the  Iron 
Mask  with  a  vengeance.  The  mask  itself  as  depicted  on  the  posters 
had  the  appearance  of  a  small  boiler. 


f 


THE  SPHINX   OF  FRENCH  HISTOR  V. 


21 


about  the  indomitable  legend? — the  "bound- 
less deference"  shown  to  the  prisoner,  Saint- 
Mars  never  seating  himself  in  his  presence, 
addressing  him  "with  bared  head,"  serving 
him  with  his  own  hands  on  silver  plate,  and 
supplying  him  with  *'the  most  luxurious 
raiment  his  fancy  could  desire "  ;  the  notable 
tale  of  the  silver  dish  which  the  prisoner 
flings  out  of  window,  after  carving  a  message 
on  It  with  a  knife,  and  which  nearly  costs  his 
life  to  the  fisherman  who  restores  it ;  or  the 
version  of  Pere  Papon,  in  which  a  shirt  of  fine 
linen,  with  a  letter  written  on  the  inside,  takes 
the  place  of  the  dish  :  who  yields  up  willingly 
these  lively  figments,  long  as  they  have  gone 
by  the  board  ? 

It  is  enough  to  recall  the  reception,  cool  in 
some  quarters  and  in  others  hostile,  which  those 
scholars  met  with  who  first  untied  the  knot. 
Few  problems  of  history  have  held  so  many 
vested  interests,  and  no  vested  interests  in  a 


i 


22 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


) 


problem  of  history  have  been  more  tenaciously- 
fought  for.  What  innumerable  pens,  French 
and  alien,  were  mortgaged  in  this  affair !  Baron 
Heiss's  affirmation,  the  first  true  note  upon 
the  Mask  in  French,  was  received  **with 
indifference/'  * 

Voltaire,  an  old  man  now  and  jealous  high 
priest  of  his  own  inspired  myth,  was  moved  to 
peevishness.  **Why,''  he  cries,  '*they  have 
even  given  him  an  Italian  name!"  Heiss's 
epistle  was  merely  in  the  nature  of  a  sugges- 
tion, but  at  last  the  right  word  had  been  uttered. 
The  unravelling  remained  to  do,  however,  and 
for  a  long  time  it  was  a  task  not  less  thankless 
than  laborious  :  the  true  heir  was  no  Prince  of 
the  blood,  and  there  was  no  investing  him  with 
fine  linen  or  feeding  him  on  silver  dishes. 
Voltaire's  pretender,  ''  young,  and  with  features 
of  rare  nobility  and  beauty"  (though  no  one 
ever  saw  them !)  was  still  the  fairy  hero  of  the 

*Vte.  Maurice  Boutry. 


\ 


1 


THE  SPHINX   OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.      23 


multitude.  Came  Topin  finally,  and  the  fairy 
prince  got  his  coup  de  grace.  Not  talent  and 
not  genius  will  ever  again  make  a  Canterbury 
Tale  of  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask.  History 
lighted  her  lamp  at  Topin's  hands,  and  was 
avenged.  M.  Funck-Brentano  has  shown  con- 
clusively that  Topin  was  right,  and  has 
furnished  the  proofs  that  were  still  to  seek. 
But  will  the  facts  uproot  the  fable  ?  In 
historical  circles  in  France,  discussion  on  the 
question  of  the  Mask  is  at  an  end,  but,  for 
the  general  public,  there  are,  as  M.  Sardou 
says,  **  The  guides,  the  showmen  to  reckon 
with — those  faithful  guardians  of  legends,  . 
whose  propaganda  is  more  aggressive  than 
that  of  scholars."*     And  among  ourselves  the 

*  Victorien  Sardou. — Preface  to  Funck-Brentano.  M.  Sardou  adds  : 
"When  you  reflect  that  every  day,  at  the  Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite, 
the  masked  man's  cell  is  exhibited  to  visitors  by  a  good  woman  who 
retails  all  the  traditional  fables  about  the  luxurious  life  of  the  prisoner, 
his  lace,  his  plate,  and  the  attentions  shown  him  by  Saint- Mars,  you 
will  agree  that  a  struggle  with  this  daily  discourse  would  be  hopeless. 
And  you  would  not  come  off  with  a  whole  skin  !  ^^—Ibid. 


24 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


Voltaire  tractate  is  still  occasionally  reprinted  ; 
Dumas  is  very  much  alive  ;  and  audiences  at 
country  theatres  are  perennially  regaled  with 
the  spectacle  of  the  suffering  prince,  his 
head  encased  in  an  iron  boiler. 

Meanwhile,  for  those  who  will  read  it,  the 
true  tale  as  revealed  by  history  is  not  bereft 
of  interest  or  romance.  The  treason  of  the 
rash  Italian,  who  flouted  Louis  the  Magnificent 
in  the  face  of  Europe,  and  was  so  terribly 
despoiled  for  the  same,  needed  only  its  Dumas, 
or  our  own  dear  Stevenson,  to  be  borne  to  the 
rim  of  the  universe.  In  any  event,  it  seems 
good  to  speed  the  Man  in  the  Moon,  and  admit 
in  his  place  the  corporeal  Man  in  the  Mask. 


PART  I. 


THE   MAN    IN   THE   MOON, 


/ 


\ 


27 


CHAPTER    I. 

It  will  be  of  profit  to  remember  : — 

The  Death 

of  I.  That    the    mysterious    prisoner 

Vermandols.    ^^5    ^^    T^y|-J^^ 

2.  That,  while  quite  unknown,  legend  was 
already  busy  with  him  before  his  death. 

3.  That  the  hypotheses  of  the  i8th  century 
are  without  the  support  of  history. 

4.  That  since,  from  the  era  of  the  French 
Revolution,  access  to  the  Archives  became 
possible,  these  hypotheses  have  been  one  by 
one  abandoned. 

5.  That  the  expression  **  iron  mask  '* — 
''  masque  de  fer  " — does  not  occur  in  any 
official  document  :  it  is  a  ''  mask,*'  a  ''  velvet 
mask,"  or  a  '*  black  velvet  mask." 

6.  That  the  tradition  of  a  royal  secret,  passed 
on  from  king  to  king,  is  disproved. 


/    i 


28 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


1 


\} 


THE  DEATH  OF    VERMANDOIS, 


29 


7.  That  the  Legend  owes  everything  to  the 
imagination  of  men  of  letters,  that  it  is  en- 
tirely at  variance  with  facts,  and  that  it  has 
held  its  ground  by  reason  mainly  of  the 
prevailing  voice  of  Voltaire,  and  the  enduring 
fascination  of  Dumas. 

We  can  proceed  now  to  determine  the  source 
and   origin    of  the    Legend.       In    1745    there 
appeared  at  Amsterdam,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Compagnie  des  libr aires  associes,  a  small 
romance    entitled    ''  A    Contribution    to    the 
History  of  Persia.''*     It  was  published  anony- 
mously,  and   the    authorship   has  remained   a 
secret.     Several  critics  have  assigned  it  {''  not 
without  some  reason,"  says  M.  Funck-Bretano) 
to  Madame  de   Vieux-Maisons  ;  others  to  the 
Due  de   Nivernais  ;  and  others  again  to  the 
Chevalier    de    Ressegnier,    an    officer    in    the 
Guards,  whom    Madame   de    Pompadour   had 
sent  to  the  Bastille.    General  lung  inclines  to 


. 


#  a 


M^moires  secrets  pour  servir  ^  Vhistoire  de  Perse '^ 


Paul  Lacroix's  opinion  that  Voltaire  himself 
was  the  author.  The  identity  of  the  author 
is,  however,  quite  unimportant.  What  is  of 
interest  is,  that  this  slender  novel  was  very 
soon  the  talk  of  France.  It  said  the  first  public 
word  about  that  hidden  prisoner  of  Saint-Mars 
whose  misfortunes  were  just  beginning  to 
entrain  attention. 

''  Cha-Abas''  *  says  the  anonymous  author, 
"  had  a  legitimate  son,  S^phi-Mirza,^  and  a 
natural  son,  Giafer,%  The  children  were 
almost  of  an  age,  but  their  characters  agreed 
in  nothing.  Giafer  was  never  tired  of  saying 
that  the  French  were  greatly  to  be  pitied  for 
their  subjection  to  a  monarch  who  had  not 
the  wit  to  rule  them.  These  treasonous 
words  were  carried  to  Cha-Abas,  but  the 
father  was  stronger  in  him  than  the  king, 
and  he  could  not    bring  himself  to  exert  his 

*  Louis  XIV. 

t  Louis  the  Dauphin. 

X  Louis  de  Bourbon,  Comte  de  Vermandois. 


\ 


I 


I 


T 


30  THE  MAN  IN  TH£  IRON  MASK. 

authority  over  a  son  who  had  abused  his 
tenderness.  At  last,  Giajcr  so  far  forgot 
himself  as  to  strike  Sephi-Mirza  in  the  face. 
This  was  at  once  reported  to  Cka-Adas, 
who,  trembling  for  the  culprit,  and  willing 
even  now  to  overlook  the  offence,  could  not 
but  regard  it  as  an  attempt  against  himself 
and  his  crown  ;  and,  as  the  affair  had  scan- 
dalised the  court,  he  could  no  longer  yield  to 
the  promptings  of  a  father's  love.  He  con- 
strained himself,  and  summoned  the  most 
intimate  of  his  courtiers  ;  showed  them  his 
grief,  and  demanded  their  voice  upon  the 
matter.  For  a  crime  of  this  magnitude,  they 
declared,  the  laws  of  the  State  awarded 
death.  What  a  verdict  for  the  doting  father  ! 
Then,  one  of  the  ministers,  more  sen- 
sible than  the  others  of  the  affliction  of 
Cha-Abas,  proffered  a  means  of  punishing 
Giafer  without  putting  him  to  death. 
•*Let    the    prince,*    said    this    counsellor,    *  be 


I 


} 


i 


I 


.^\ 


Louis  XIV.  at  the  age  of  Twenty-Eight. 

From  an  engraving  after  Le  Brun. 


i 


I 


/ 


THE  DEATH   OF   VERMANDOIS. 


33 


'i- 


% 


\\ 


\ 


sent  to  the  army  which  was  then  on  the 
frontiers  oi  Feldran.^  Shortly  after  his  arrival 
let  it  be  given  out  that  he  had  sickened  of 
the  plague,  which  would  be  a  sure  way  of 
detaching  from  him  his  friends  and  admirers, 
and,  a  few  days  later,  let  it  be  announced 
that  the  malady  had  carried  him  off.  Then 
whilst,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  army,  his 
obsequies  should  be  celebrated  in  a  manner 
befitting  his  birth,  he  must  be  borne  away 
by  night,  and  taken  secretly  to  the  citadel 
of  the  Isle  of  Ormzis!  f  This  advice  was 
very  generally  approved,  and  above  all  by 
the  afflicted  father.  Persons  faithful  and 
discreet  were  chosen  for  the  conduct  of  the 
affair  ;  and  Giafer,  with  a  splendid  retinue, 
set  forth  for  the  army.  There  it  fell  out 
as  the  plot  had  ordered,  and  while  all  the 
camp  lamented  that  untimely  fate,  the  unhappy 

*  Flanders. 

t  Isles  of  Sainte- Marguerite. 


1 


/ 


34 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


THE  DEATH  OF   VERMANDOIS. 


35 


prince  was  hurried  by  privy  ways  to  the 
Isle  of  Ormus,  where  they  delivered  him 
into  the  hands  of  the  governor,  whom  Cha- 
Abas  had  commanded  that  no  one  should 
ever  obtain  sight  of  his  prisoner.  One 
attendant  only,  who  shared  the  secret,  was 
taken  with  the  prince ;  but  this  man  dying 
by  the  way,  the  escort  slashed  his  face  with 
their  poniards  that  he  might  not  be  recog- 
nised, and  left  him  stripped  and  stark  upon 
the  road.  When  Cha-Abas,  to  reward  the 
governor's  fidelity,  bestowed  on  him  the 
command  of  the  citadel  of  Ispahan,'^  Giafer 
was  removed  there.  At  the  Isle  of  Ormus, 
as  in  the  citadel  of  Ispahan,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  wear  a  mask  when,  by  reason  of 
sickness  or  for  any  other  cause,  it  was 
necessary  to  let  him  be  seen."  f 

Such  was   the   story    which    set    all    minds 

*  The  Bastille. 

t  M^moires  secrets  pour  servir  ct  Vhistoire  de  Perse. 


in  France  to  work  upon  the  enigma  of  the 
prisoner  of  Saint-Mars.  '*  No  sooner  had  it 
appeared,"  says  lung,  *'  than  the  problem  of 
the  mysterious  prisoner  became  the  question 
of  the  day.  Refutations,  criticisms,  pamphlets, 
letters,  memoirs,  and  ever  new  solutions 
succeeded  one  another  rapidly  from  1750  to 
1790."  The  ''History  of  Persia"  continued 
to  be  credited  even  after  Voltaire^s  more 
romantic  nonsense  had  seduced  the  multitude. 
Let  us  examine  its  pretensions.  It  repre- 
sents, as  Topin  observes,  a  kind  of  com- 
promise between  the  impossibility  of  accepting 
the  imaginary  hero  of  Voltaire  and  the  desire 
to  see  in  the  Masked  Man  some  person  of 
exalted  birth. 

In  Vermandois  we  have  at  all  events  a  live 
man,  and  the  natural  son  of  a  King  to  boot. 
His  mother  was  that  beautiful  and  sympathetic 
Louise  de  la  Valliere  who  touches  us  more 
closely   than   any   other    of    the    heroines    of 


36 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


the  court  of  Louis  XIV.  Yielding  with  re- 
luctance to  the  passion  of  the  King,  la  Valliere 
was  no  courtesan  and  no  fortune-hunting  ad- 
venturess. Strong  in  her  very  weakness, 
she  subjugated  without  art  or  wile  the  most 
imperious  sovereign  in  Europe,  and  from  the 
torments  of  a  love,  ceaselessly  combated,  she 
passed  to  the  rigors  of  a  penance  courageously 
endured  for  thirty  years.  Sweetest  and  most 
captivating  figure  of  the  great  reign,  she  has 
engaged  the  hearts  of  posterity.* 

The  graces  of  the  mother  were  innate  in 
Louis  de  Bourbon,  Count  of  Vermandois. 
Tall  and  finely  formed,  he  possessed  la  Val- 
liere's  instinctive  gift  of  pleasing.  Kindly  and 
generous,  he  had  his  own  peculiar  ways  of 
conferring  favours,  and  the  most  fastidious 
of  men,  it  was  said,  could  never  reject  or  be 
offended  by  his  benefits.  From  a  child  he 
had  the  love  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  was  as  proud 

*  Topin. 


-     I 

Ml 


Louis,  Comte  de  Vermandois. 

From  an  engraving  after  MIgnard, 


/ 


y 


THE  DEATH  OF    VERMANDOIS. 


39 


i 


t, 
II 


as  he  was  tender  of  him.  In  the  army,  he 
won  the  officers  as  completely  as  he  had  won 
the  common  soldiers,  and  his  personal  courage 
was  of  the  highest ;  with  the  troops  in 
Flanders,  on  one  occasion,  he  concealed  a  grave 
malady,  that  he  might  not  miss  his  part  in 
an  attack.  As  if  under  the  influence  of  that 
subtle  warning  which  often  strikes  those  whose 
death  is  to  be  premature,  he  seemed  eager  to 
ensure  for  his  memory  the  renown  of  some 
signal  act  :  but  his  day  was  too  short  for  glory. 
A  posthumous  celebrity  of  a  most  uncommon 
kind  was,  however,  in  store  for  him.  Sixty 
years  after  his  death,  it  occurred — Heaven 
knows  how  ! — to  the  unknown  author  of  these 
M^moires  secrets  pour  servir  a  Fhistoire  de 
Perse  to  add  to  the  too-brief  life  of  the  gra- 
cious Vermandois  twenty  years  of  captivity  in 
prison,  and  to  render  his  destiny  sadder  by 
presenting  him  as  the  incognizable  victim  of 
Louis  XIV.'s  tyranny. 


\h 


I 


40  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

What  proofs,  or  failing  proofs,   what  proba- 
bilities     does     the     story     carry  ?       In     the 
seventh   volume   of  Mdlle.    de    Montpensier's 
interminable   "Memoirs"    there   is   a  definite 
statement  that  Vermandois  was  under  a  cloud 
at  court    when    he    set    out    for    the  siege  of 
Courtrai ;  that   the    King,   annoyed   about   his 
gallantries  in  the  town,  and  the  company  the 
young  man  kept,  had  banished  him  from  the 
presence.      There    is   no   word   of  a    quarrel 
with  the   Dauphin,  or  of  a  blow  in   the  face, 
a    scandal    which    could     scarcely     have    re- 
mained  unknown  to    Mdlle.   de    Montpensier, 
and  one  which,  since  she  was  no  friend  to  the 
brilliant    Vermandois,*   she   would    not    have 
scrupled    to    divulge.      As   for    Vermandois's 
pretended  disgrace,  and  the  King's  refusal  to 
see  him,  we  find  that  on  the  earliest  rumour  of 
his  illness  at  Courtrai,  Louis  sends  word  that 

*  "  I  was  not  sorry  for  the  death  of  M.  de  Vermandois,"  she  says 
in  this  same  volume  of  the  Mdmoires. 


THE  DEATH  OF   VERMANDOIS. 


41 


i 


he  is  to  be  brought  back  to  court  as  quickly  as 
possible,  "  where  he  can  be  surrounded  with 
every  care/** 

"  Is  there  need/*  asks  Topin,  ''  to  insist 
upon  the  impossibility  of  admitting  that  a  son 
and  heir  of  Louis  XIV.  could  receive  the 
gravest  insult  in  the  midst  of  the  court,  and 
no  allusion  be  made  to  the  fact  by  a  single 
contemporary  writer  ?  **  Further  to  diminish 
the  probability  of  the  tale,  the  author  of  the 
M^moires  Secrets  shows  us  in  Vermandois,  that 
mirror  of  courteous  chivalry,  an  unmannerly 
and  treasonable  cub,  unable  to  keep  his  hands 
from  the  brother  who  was  one  day  to  be  his 
king.  Finally,  the  brothers  are  described  as 
*^  a  peu  pres  du  meme  age,''  whereas  there  were 
six  years  between  them  ;  Vermandois  at  the 
period  of  this  display  of  ungovernable  temper 
being  but  sixteen,  while  the  Dauphin  was 
already  the  father  of  the  Due  de  Bourgogne. 

*  The  King  to  the  Marquis  de  Montchevreuil,  Nov.  4,  1683. 


42 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


The  untimely  death  of  Vermandois  is  a  fact 
that  cannot  be  disputed,  nor  is  there  in  his  last 
earthly  moments,  or  in  the  transport  of  his 
remains  to  Arras,  where  they  were  interred, 
a  circumstance  which  provokes  the  faintest 
degree  of  suspicion. 

It  was  on  the  6th  of  November,  1683, 
that  the  young  Count  took  to  his  bed  at 
Courtrai.  He  had  been  sickening  for 
some  days,  but  would  not  admit  it,  so  deter- 
mined was  he  to  take  part  in  the  attack  on 
Menin,  **  where  he  gave  proofs  of  the  highest 
courage." 

His  fever  increased  rapidly  ;  on  the  12th  of 
the  month  Marshal  d'Humieres  communicated 
his  condition  to  the  minister  Louvois ;  on  the 
13th  word  was  sent  to  the  court.  Three  days 
later,  on  the  i6th,  it  is  announced*  that  the 
patient  has  just   received  the  sacrament,   and 

*  Archives  du  minist^re  de  la  guerre.      De   Boufflers  h.   Louvois. 
Cited  by  Topin. 


/' 


I 


t^^ 


i 


i' 


TIl£  DEATH  OF   VERMANDOIS, 


45 


Louise  de  la  Valliereras  a  Carmelite  Nun. 

Prom  an  engraviag  after  D.  a,  Plaats. 


that  ron  nespere  plus  que  dans  sa  jeunesse. 
On  the  second  day  from  this,  November  i8th, 
the  son  of  la  Valliere  died  pf  malignant  fever 
in  the  presence. of  Marshal  d'Humieres,  the 
Marquis  de  Montchevreuil,  and  Lieutenant- 
General  Boufflers.  **  In  the  camp,  distress  was 
general.  They  wept  for  the  good  he  had 
achieved,  and  for  the  promises  of  greatness 
unfulfilled/'  Mademoiselle  de  la  Valliere  '*  is 
all  day  at  the  foot  of  her  crucifix/' 

On  the  27th  of  November,  before  an  im- 
mense and  brilliant  crowd  of  witnesses,  Ver- 
mandois  was  laid  with  pomp  in  the  choir  of 
the  cathedral  church  of  Arras.  By  the  King's 
command,  a  requiem  mass  was  said  in  the 
same  place  every  day  during  the  remainder  of 
the  year ;  and  provision  was  ordered  to  be 
made  for  a  solemn  service,  preceded  by  vigils, 
on  the  1 8th  of  November,  each  year,  ''a 
perpetuiter  Doles  were  to  be  given  to  the 
poor  of  Arras  on  this  day,   '*that  they  might 


46 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


Tj 


DEATH   OF   VERMANDOIS. 


47 


pray  for  the  soul's  welfare  of  the  Comte  de 
Vermandois."  Up  to  the  year  of  the  Re- 
volution, 1789,  all  these  stipulations  of  the  act 
drawn  up  with  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral,  in 
the  name  of  Louis  XIV.,  *' were  scrupulously 
fulfilled. '^ 

To  sum  up.      If  the  amiable  and  chivalrous 
Vermandois  struck  the  Dauphin,  as  the  legend 
of  the  ''  Contribution  to  the  History  of  Persia  " 
maintains,  the    proof  has    not  come    down    to 
us.     If  for  this    deed  Louis  XIV.  condemned 
a  favourite   son    to  lifelong   imprisonment,   the 
proof  is   not  less   in  request.     The  dispatches 
concerning  the  successive  phases  of  the  illness 
of  Vermandois,  his  death  at  Courtrai,  his  burial 
in   the   cathedral    of  Arras,    are   in    existence. 
And,  as  regards  Louis   XIV.  (who  held  such 
things  profoundly  sacred),   what  an  awful  and 
most  impious  derision  is  in  that  pomp  of  burial, 
and    in    those    masses    celebrated     during     a 
hundred  years,  if  the  coffin    in  the  choir  were 


I  1 


I 


tenantless,  and  Vermandois  a  living  prisoner  in 

V 

the  dungeon  of  Pignerol ! 

There  is  but  to  add  that  this  version  of  the 
mystery,  adci^pted  by  Freron  in  1768,  and  by 
the  unknown  (author  of  the  Histoire  du  fils  dun 
Roi,  in  1789,1  has  lain  for  above  a  century  in 
well-merited  neglect. 


48 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  sy Sterne  Vermandois  was  a  choice 
EiderlLr  regale  in  its  way/but  a  dish  more  de- 
"*•  lectable  was  preparing.  The  Legend 
was  not  to  be  world-famous  till  it 
had  made  of  the  Iron  Mask  a  brother  of 
Louis  XIV.  Of  this  system  there  were 
several  branches.     Thus,  the  Maj:  was  :— 

1.  A  son  of  Anne  of  AustP  and    some 
lover  undiscovered. 

2.  A    son  of  Anne    of   Austria    and    the 
Duke  of  Buckingham. 

3.  A  son  of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Cardinal 

Mazarin  ; 

or 

4.  A  twin  brother  of  Louis  XIV. 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN.       49 

Later,  under  the  First  Empire,  there  were 
new  and  very  elegant  conceits.  Taking  up 
the  theory  of  the  twin  brother,  the  Baron  de 
Gleichen  had  asserted,  and  had  been  at  pains 
to  prove,  *'that  it  was  the  true  heir  to  the 
throne  who  was  put  out  of  sight,  to  the  profit 
of  a  child  of  the  Queen  and  the  Cardinal. 
Having  become  masters  of  the  situation  on 
the  death  of  the  King  [Louis  XIII.],  they 
substituted  their  son  for  the  Dauphin,  the 
substitution  being  facilitated  by  a  strong 
likeness  between  the  children."*  The  dire  con- 
sequences of  this  hypothesis  strike  the  eye 
at  once :  it  nullifies  in  the  most  absolute 
fashion  the  legitimacy  of  all  the  remaining 
Bourbons. 

After  a  period  of  repose  in  the  shades,  the 
ghost  of  the  Baron  de  Gleichen  awoke  and 
stalked  forth  into  the  First  Empire,  where  all 
the  talents  were  probing  the  dust  of  the  Man 

*  Funck-Brentano. 


so 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN.       51 


in  the  Iron  Mask.  Here  is  the  contribution  of 
the  Baron's  ghost  to  the  bewildering  topic  of 
debate.  *'  Louis  XIV.  had  been  a  mere  bastard, 
the  child  of  foreigners.  The  lawful  heir  had 
been  imprisoned  at  the  Isles  of  Sainte- 
Marguerite,  where  he  had  married  the  daughter 
of  one  of  his  gaolers.  Of  this  marriage  a  child 
was  born,  who,  as  soon  as  he  was  weaned,  was 
despatched  to  Corsica,  and  there  entrusted  to  a 
safe  person,  as  a  child  coming  of  '  good  stock  ' 
— in  Italian,  Biiona'parte.  It  is  from  this  child 
that  the  Emperor  was  directly  descended.  The 
true  claim  of  Napoleon  I.  to  the  throne  of 
France  established  by  the  Iron  Mask ! — How 
came  the  great  Dumas  to  miss  that  great 
discovery  .^^  "  * 

Note  has  been  made  of  the  suggestion  that 
Voltaire  was  the  author  of  the  unsigned 
**  Contribution  to  the  History  of  Persia.''  He 
affected   to  treat  it   in  public  as  an  *'  obscure, 

*  Funck-Brentano. 


/ 


ridiculous  pamphlet,"  but  he  was  exceedingly 
quick  to  appreciate  the  interest  it  had  aroused. 
Surely  that  tale  of  Vermandois  and  the  Dauphin, 
and  the  fond  King  who  would  not  slay  his  son, 
might  be  improved  upon  !  Now  Voltaire  had, 
as  Matthew  Arnold  says  of  Macaulay,  ''his 
own  heightened  and  telling  way  of  putting 
things "  ;  and  of  that  heightened  and  telling 
way  of  his  there  is  no  more  effective  illustration 
than  the  surmise  upon  the  Mask  with  which  he 
witched  the  world.  People  have  gone  on  re- 
peating it — not  as  surmise  but  as  history — even 
to  the  present  day.  In  how  many  minds  does 
not  the  mention  of  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask 
conjure  up  the  image  of  a  brother  of  the  Grand 
Monarque  ?  This  story,  nevertheless,  is  un- 
supported by  any  document  that  ever  yet  was 
vouched  for  ;  not  in  all  the  archives  of  France 
is  there  one  single  piece  to  stay  it  on  ;  nor 
will  it  tally  (and  this  were  indispensable) 
with   the    dates    of    the   changing   periods    in 


\ 


/ 


\ 


52 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


Saint-Mars's  career.  In  a  word,  from  the 
day  that  the  State  papers  of  France  became 
available,  no  seeker  of  the  truth  could 
continue  his  belief  in  the  divination  of 
Voltaire :  so  far  as  criticism  was  concerned 
it  perished,  accordingly,  in  the  cataclysm  of 
the  Revolution. 

Let  us  see  how  adroitly  Voltaire  went  to 
work.  In  the  first  edition  of  his  **  Age  of 
Louis  XIV.,''  published  in  1751,  he  wrote: — 
**  Some  months  after  the  death  of  Mazarin,  an 
event  happened  which  is  without  a  parallel  in 
history.  Moreover,  and  this  is  not  less  re- 
markable, the  event  has  been  passed  over  in 
silence  by  every  historian.  There  was  sent 
with  the  utmost  secrecy  to  the  castle  of  the  Isles 
of  Sainte-Marguerite,  in  the  Sea  of  Provence, 
a  prisoner  unknown,  of  a  stature  above  the 
average,  young,  and  with  features  of  rare 
nobility  and  beauty.  On  the  way,  the  prisoner 
wore   a   mask,   the    chinpiece    of   which    was 


Voltaire. 

AHtr  De  la  Tour, 


J 


I 

\ 


/ 


ELDER   BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN.       55 

furnished  with  springs  of  steel,  so  that  he 
could  eat  without  removing  it.  Order  had 
been  given  to  kill  him  if  he  ventured  to 
uncover.  He  remained  at  the  Isles  until,  a 
trusted  officer,  Saint-Mars  by  name,  governor 
of  Pignerol,  having  been  appointed  in  1690  to 
the  command  of  the  Bastille,  came  to  Sainte- 
Marguerite  to  fetch  him,  and  bore  him  thence — 
always  in  his  mask — to  the  Bastille.  Before 
his  removal,  he  was  seen  in  the  Isle  by  the 
Marquis  de  Louvois,  who  remained  standing 
while  he  spoke  to  him  with  a  consideration 
savouring  of  respect.  In  the  Bastille,  the 
unknown  was  as  well  bestowed  as  was  possible 
in  that  place,  and  nothing  that  he  asked  for  was 
refused  him.  He  had  a  passion  for  lace  and 
fine  linen  ;  he  amused  himself  with  the  guitar  ; 
and  his  table  was  furnished  with  the  best.  The 
governor  rarely  sat  down  in  his  presence. 
An  old  doctor  of  the  Bastille,  who  had  often 
attended  this  interesting    prisoner,    said    that, 


/: 


56 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


although  he  had  examined  his  tongue  and  the 
rest  of  his  body,  he  had  never  seen  his  face. 
He  was  admirably  made,  said  the  doctor,  and 
his  skin  was  of  a  brownish  tint.  He  spoke 
charmingly,  with  a  voice  of  a  deeply  interesting 
quality ;  never  complaining  of  his  lot,  and 
never  letting  rt  be  guessed  who  he  was.  This 
unknown  captive  died  in  1703,  and  was  buried 
by  night  in  the  parish  of  Saint-Paul.  What  is 
doubly  astonishing  is  this  :  that  when  he  was 
sent  to  Sainte-Marguerite  there  did  not  dis- 
appear from  Europe  any  personage  of  note. 
This  was  he,  beyond  a  doubt,  for  observe  what 
happened  within  a  few  days  of  his  arrival 
at  the  Isle.  The  governor  himself  laid  the 
prisoner's  table,  and  then  withdrew  and  locked 
the  door.  One  day  the  prisoner  wrote  some- 
thing with  a  knife  on  a  silver  plate,  and  threw 
the  plate  out  of  the  window  towards  a  boat  on 
the  shore,  almost  at  the  foot  of  the  tower. 
A  fisherman,  to  whom  the  boat  belonged,  picked 


^1 


\ 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN       57 

up  the  plate  and  carried  it  to  the  governor, 
who,  surprised  beyond  measure,  asked  the 
man  :  '  Have  you  read  what  is  written  on  this 
plate,  and  has  anyone  seen  it  in  your  hands  }  * 
'  I  cannot  read,'  answered  the  fisherman ;  '  I 
have  only  just  found  it,  and  no  one  else  has 
seen  it.'  He  was  detained  until  the  governor 
had  made  sure  that  he  could  not  read,  and  that 
no  other  person  had  seen  the  plate.  '  Go,'  he 
then  said,  *  It  is  well  for  you  that  you  cannot 
read.'"* 

It  will  be  seen  that  Voltaire  does  not  say 

*  The  reader  will  be  interested  in  comparing  with  this  the  version 
which  Pere  Papon  gives  in  hi^Histoire  G ^n^r ale de Provence.  Here,  it  will 
be  observed,  the  issue  is  more  tragical.  Says  Father  Papon  ;  *'  I  met 
in  the  Citadel  an  officer  of  the  Free  Company,  aged  seventy-nine.  He 
told  me  more  than  once  that  a  frater  of  that  company  saw  one  day, 
under  the  prisoner's  window,  some  white  thing  floating  on  the  water. 
He  brought  it  to  shore,  and  carried  it  to  M.  de  Saint-Mars.  It  was  a 
shirt  of  very  fine  linen,  carelessly  folded,  which  the  prisoner  had  com- 
pletely covered  with  writing.  Unfolding  it,  and  reading  a  few  lines, 
M.  de  Saint-Mars,  with  an  air  of  great  embarrassment,  asked  thefrater 
if  he  had  not  had  the  curiosity  to  read  it  himself.  The  fraier  declared 
over  and  over  again  that  he  had  read  nothing  ;  nevertheless,  two  days 
later,  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed." 


58 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


as  yet  who  his  extraordinary  prisoner  was. 
**  He  observed  the  impression  his  story  had 
produced.  Then,  growing  bolder,  he  in- 
sinuated in  the  first  edition  of  the  '  Questions 
on  the  Encyclopaedia'  that,  if  the  prisoner 
were  masked,  it  was  a  precaution  taken  to 
prevent  the  recognition  of  a  certain  striking 
likeness.  He  still  withheld  the  name,  but 
every  ear  was  straining  now  for  some  impos- 
ing revelation."  * 

It  came  at  last,  in  the  second  edition 
of  the  *'  Questions  on  the  Encyclopaedia.'* 
This  time  Voltaire,  afraid  to  captain  his 
fantasy,  took  cover  behind  his  publisher. 
The  paragraph  had  better  be  translated  at 
length  : — 

**  The  Iron  Mask  was  without  doubt  a 
brother,  and  an  elder  brother,  of  Louis  XIV., 
whose  mother  had  that  taste  for  fine  linen 
with  which  M.  de  Voltaire  has  re-enforced  his 

*  Funck-Brentano. 


ELDER  BROTHER   AND   THE   TWIN       59 

case.*  Reading  the  contemporary  Memoirs  in 
which  this  anecdote  of  the  Queen  finds  men- 
tion, I  had  not  a  doubt  that  this  was  her  son,  a 
conclusion  to  which  various  other  circumstances 
had  already  guided  me.  It  is  known  that 
Louis  XIII.  had  long  ceased  to  share  the 
Queen's  couch,  and  that  the  birth  of  Louis 
XIV.  was  the  fruit  of  a  happy  accident. 
Here,  as  I  believe,  is  the  history  of  the  affair  : 
The  Queen  had  come  to  persuade  herself  that 
hers  alone  was  the  fault  which  had  deprived 
Louis  XIII.  of  an  heir.  The  birth  of  the 
Iron  Mask  undeceived  her  on  that  point. 
The  Cardinal,f  to  whom  she  had  confided 
her  secret,  saw  where  his  advantage  lay  in 
it.     He   could  shape   it   at   once   to   his   own 

***It  was  made  to  appear — although  nothing  has  ever  been 
advanced  in  proof — that  the  Mask  was  addicted  to  the  wearing  of 
fine  linen  ;  and  Anne  of  Austria,  we  know,  was  particularly  fond  of 
laces  and  embroideries.  But  this  taste  is  not  exactly  confined  to 
royal  families,  and  is  perhaps  a  little  insufficient  to  convict  a  queen  of 
adultery." — Vte.  Maurice  Boutry. 

t  Richelieu. 


6o 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


profit  and  to  the  profit  of  the  State.  Satisfied, 
by  what  had  occurred,  that  the  Queen  was 
able  to  give  children  to  France,  he  arranged 
to  bring  her  Majesty  and  the  King  together. 
But  both  Queen  and  Cardinal  being  equally 
persuaded  of  the  necessity  of  concealing  from 
Louis  XIII.  the  existence  of  the  Iron  Mask, 
they  had  the  child  removed  in  secret. 
Louis  XIV.  remained  in  ignorance  of  the 
matter  until  after  the  death  of  Cardinal 
Mazarin.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  it 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  King  that 
he  had  a  brother  living,  an  elder  brother,  more- 
over, whom  his  mother  could  not  possibly 
disown,  and  in  whom  some  signal  likeness 
might  not  improbably  declare  his  origin. 
Reflecting  that  this  Prince,  born  in  wedlock, 
could  not,  without  the  gravest  consequences 
and  most  dire  scandal,  be  pronounced  illegiti- 
mate after  the  decease  of  Louis  XIII., 
Louis  XIV.  could  have  fallen  on  no  measure 


i 


X 


w 


Anne  of  Austria. 


I 


y 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN,       63 

wiser  or  more  just  than  the  one  which  he 
adopted  ;  and  that  measure,  in  addition,  while 
securing  his  own  safety  and  the  tranquillity 
of  the  State,  spared  him  an  act  of  cruelty 
which  a  sovereign  less  conscientious  and 
less  magnanimous  would  have  accepted  as 
necessary/* 

*'What  unlikelinesses,  what  contradictions, 
what  abounding  errors  have  we  here,"  ex- 
claims Topin,  within  the  compass  of  a  page  or 
two !  This  strange  unknown  whom  no  one  is 
allowed  to  look  upon,  whose  doctor  even 
may  never  see  him  unmasked,  yet  who  is 
confidently  asserted  to  be  beautiful  and  noble 
of  feature :  Saint-Mars  appointed  to  the 
Bastille  in  1690  (eight  years  before  he  received 
that  command),  and  traversing  all  France 
to  seek  a  prisoner  for  whom,  during  twenty- 
eight  years,  some  other  gaoler  has  sufficed  : 
this  mask  with  the  steel  springs  which  covers 
the  prisoner's  visage  night   and  day  without 


64 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


destroying    his  health  :    that    beatific    resigna- 
tion   to  his  lot,   and  unwillingness  to  disclose 
his   identity,    on   the  part   of   a  prisoner   who 
flings  silver  plates  out  of  window  after  com- 
mitting  to   them    some   history  which  all   but 
sends   the   governor    into    an    apoplexy :    her 
Majesty's   taste   for    fine   linen,    so   extremely 
unfortunate,  since  it  is  presently  to  be  trans- 
formed   into    invincible    proof  of  the  birth   of 
an  unlawful  child  :  this  Queen,  again,  who  has 
been    already   three    times    enceinte,    heaping 
herself   with    reproaches    that    she    can    give 
the    King  no  heir  :  her   infatuated  resolve  to 
share    with    Richelieu,    a    sworn   enemy,    the 
secret  of  a  guilty  intrigue  :  a  Queen  of  France, 
in  the  momentous  hour  of  child-birth,  with  no 
confidant  but  the  prime  minister  :   and  these 
two  tremendous  events,  the  birth  and  stealthy 
removal    of  a   royal    child,    so    shrewdly    dis- 
simulated  that   not   a   single    Memoir   of  the 
period     has     mention     of    them — these     are 


¥ 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND    THE   TWIN       65 

among  the  first  reflections  which  this  amazing 
narrative    suggests.* 

And  now  for  the  history,  not  less  diverting 
and  equally  veracious,  of  the  Twin.  This  is 
the  invention  wrought  by  the  Abbe  Soulavie 
into  his  apocryphal  Memoires  du  Marechal 
Due  de  Richelieu,  first  published  in  London 
in  1790.  Written  in  a  not  inelegant  French, 
we  are  asked  to  accept  it  as  the  composition 
of  Saint-Mars,f  who,  incapable  of  a  literary 
sentence,  groaned  over  the  spelling  of  a  six- 
line  despatch. 

'*  The  unhappy  Prince  whom  I  brought  up,*' 
said  the  governor,  '*  and  of  whom  I  had  charge 
to  the  end  of  his  days,  was  born  the  5th  of 
September,  1638,  at  half-past  eight  in  the 
evening,     while    the     King     was    at    supper. 

*  Adapted  from  Topin. 

t  **  Relation  de  la  naissance  et  de  1' education  du  prince  infortune 
soustrait  par  les  cardinaux  Richelieu  et  Mazarin  a  la  societe  et  ren- 
ferme  par  I'ordre  de  Louis  XIV.,  comppsee  par  le  gouverneur  de  ce 
prince  au  lit  de  mort." — Al^m.,  vol.  III.,  ch.  iv. 


/ 


/ 


/^ 


I 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


His  brother,  now  reigning  as  Louis  XIV., 
was  born  at  twelve  noon,  his  father  being  at 
dinner.  The  pomp  and  ceremony  which 
attended  the  birth  of  the  King  contrasted 
wretchedly  with  that  of  his  brother,  which 
was  closely  concealed.  Louis  XI I L  was  in- 
formed from  the  Queen's  chamber  that  her 
Majesty  was  about  to  be  delivered  of  a  second 
child  ;  and  this  double  birth  had  already  been 
predicted  to  him  by  two  shepherds,  who  had 
said  in  Paris  that  if  the  Queen  should  bring 
two  Dauphins  into  the  world,  the  State  were 
lost.  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  consulted  by 
the  King,  replied  that,  ''  if  two  children  were 
born,  the  second  must  be  put  out  of  sight, 
since  he  might  one  day  claim  the  throne. 
Tormented  by  uncertainty  as  to  what  course 
he  should  follow,  the  King's  distress  was 
overwhelming  when  the  pains  of  the  second 
accouchement  began.''  The  twin  was  born, 
''  daintier  and  prettier  than  his  elder,"  and  the 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN       67 

midwife  was  charged  with  his  safe  keeping  ! 
Where  the  lu(.kless  infant  was  secreted  we 
are  not  told  ;  merely  that  dame  Peronnette, 
the  pearl  of  midwives,  reared  him  as  one  of 
her  own,  and  that  he  was  given  out  for  some 
nobleman's  love-child :  an  ideally  simple  Kttle 
method   of  disposing  of  a  Child  of  France. 

At  first,  it  is  the  great  Richelieu  him- 
self who  undertakes  the  education  of  this 
untimely  prince,  destined,  in  the  event 
of  the  Dauphin's  death,  to  succeed  to 
the  throne.  Then,  to  resume  the  legend 
so  absurdly  fathered  on  Saint-Mars,  **  the 
cardinal  confided  him  to  the  governor,  who 
was  to  bring  him  up  as  the  son  of  a  king, 
but  in  strict  secrecy.  The  governor  took  him 
to  his  own  estate  in  Burgundy.  The  Queen- 
mother  seemed  to  fear  that  if  the  birth  of  this 
young  Dauphin  became  known  the  malcontents 
of  the  kingdom  would  rise  in  his  behalf,  because 
of  the  belief  (held  from  certain  of  the  faculty) 


6S 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


that  the  last-born  of  twin  brothers  is  the  first 
conceived,  and,  in  consequence,  the  rightful 
heir.  Nevertheless,  Anne  of  Austria  could 
not  bring  herself  to  destroy  the  documents 
which  established  the  birth  of  her  son.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen,  this  State  secret  was  dis- 
covered by  the  prince  while  spying  in  a  casket 
of  his  governor,  where  he  came  upon  letters 
of  the  Queen  and  of  the  Cardinals  Richelieu 
and  Mazarin. 

"  The  governor  wrote  to  the  Court  asking 
for  instructions,  and  both  he  and  his  charge 
were  ordered  to  be  imprisoned,''  &c. 

Soulavie  has  had  for  his  principal  supporters 
Dulaure,  in  his  Histoire  de  Paris  (1821)  ; 
Fournier  and  Arnould,  in  the  drama  put  for- 
ward at  the  Odeon  ;  Alexandre  Dumas,  in  the 
Vicomte  de  Bragelomie  ;  Levasseur,  in  a  volume 
of  the  Memoires  pour  Tons  (1835);  and  the 
historians  Sismondi  and  Michelet. 

These,  then,  are  the  two  main  branches  of 


\ 


ELDER  BROTHER  AND   THE   TWIN       69 

the  system  which  sets  up  the  Iron  Mask  as 
a  brother  of  Louis  XIV.  ;  Voltaire's  prevailing 
story  of  an  elder  brother,  with  Mazarin  as  the 
putative  father  ;  and  Soulavie's  creation,  more 
romanesque,  if  possible,  of  the  twin  who 
vanishes  in  the  instant  of  his  appearance. 
With  these  is  linked,  and  will  fall  naturally 
into  line,  the  story  of  the  Queen  and 
Buckingham.  Topin  sets  out  upon  his  refu- 
tation of  the  entire  system  by  asking  when 
and  in  what  circumstances  this  most  equi- 
vocal brother  of  Louis  XIV. — whether  elder 
or  twin — could  have  contrived  to  slip  unseen 
into  the  world  }  His  birth  has  been  placed 
at  three  different  dates.  Choice  may  be 
made,  for  instance,  of  1625,  after  the  famous 
visit  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  to  France  ; 
of  1 63 1,  following  on  that  grave  sickness  of 
Louis  XIII.,  which  had  given  rise  to  fears 
that  his  hated  brother,  Gaston  d'Orl^ans, 
might    be    called    to    the   throne  ;    or,    lastly, 


70 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


1638,  eight  or  nine  hours  after  the  birth  of 
Louis  XIV.  If  the  refutation  is  to  be 
decisive,  it  should  leave  no  doubt  upon  the 
mind  that  the  birth  of  another  Dauphin  was 
as  mythical  as  his  subsequent  misfortunes. 


71 


CHAPTER    III. 


The 


\\ 


It    was    in    May,     1625,     that     the 
Infatuation   brilliant    Buckingham  went  to   Paris, 
"'        charged    by    Charles     I.    to    conduct 

Buckingham. 

to  England  his  bride  Henrietta 
Maria.  Charles's  ambassador  had  been  wel- 
comed in  advance  by  Louis  XIII.  *'  I  do 
assure  you/'  that  King  had  written,  **  you  will 
be  regarded  here,  not  as  a  stranger,  but  as  a 
true  Frenchman,  for  indeed  you  are  one  at 
heart.''  And  Richelieu  had  said  to  the  Marquis 
d'Effiat  :  '*  M.  de  Buckingham  will  find  in  me  a 
brother."  Indeed,  Buckingham  knew  France 
well,  and  had  acquired  in  that  country  not  a 
little  of  the  grace  and  gloss  of  manner  which 
have    been    worth    so    much    to    his  memory. 


72 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


INFATUATION  OF  BUCKINGHAM. 


73 


We  are  not  at  this  day  to  bestow  much  praise 
upon  this  elegant  and  handsome  trifler,  no 
fit  counsellor  for  kings,  though  he  had  been 
counsellor  to  two  ;  but  the  courtier  shone  very 
fine  in  him,  and  he  was  an  eminently  splendid 
figure  in  a  pageant.  He  made  a  superb 
entry  at  the  Court  of  France,  ''with  more 
pomp  and  glitter  than  if  he  had  been  King,*' 
says  La  Rochefoucauld.  Madame  de  Motteville 
adds  that  the  Duke  seemed  to  have  treasuries 
at  command,  and  all  the  Crown  Jewels  of 
England  to  heighten  the  splendour  of  his 
wardrobe.  In  the  first  volume  of  the  Hard- 
wicke  State  Papers  is  an  account  of  the 
**  vastly  rich  cloaths  ''  he  took  wilh  him,  ''  the 
number  of  his  servants,  and  of  the  noble 
Personages  in  his  train."  A  suit  of  purple 
satin,  '*  embroidered  all  over  with  rich  orient 
pearls,''  was  valued  at  ;^20,ooo,  and  another 
of  **  white  satin  uncut  velvet,  set  all  over 
with    diamonds,''    at   four  times   that   amount. 


\ 


li 


,1 


tii 


Paris  was  amazed  at  the  prodigality  of 
his  display.  Certain  jewels  on  the  costumes 
that  he  changed  incessantly  were  sewn 
with  such  ingenious  lack  of  skill  that  they 
detached  themselves  and  rolled  away,  **  and 
when  they  were  brought  back  to  him  the  Duke 
would  by  no  means  receive  them."  Great 
noblemen  were  in  his  suite  ;  he  had  seven 
grooms  of  the  chamber,  thirty  chief  yeomen, 
and  twenty-two  cooks,  with  pages,  footmen, 
grooms,  huntsmen,  outriders,  musicians,  and 
watermen.  Three  coaches  lined  with  velvet 
and  smothered  in  gold  lace  had  eight  horses 
and  six  coachmen  apiece  ;  and  the  Duke  had 
his  barge,  with  twenty-two  rowers  ''  all  in  sky- 
coloured  tafifety."  What  with  his  attendant 
knights,  and  the  pages  of  the  knights,  his  train 
numbered  six  or  seven  hundred  persons.  He 
was  the  hero  of  the  town  and  of  the  court. 

Dazzled,    it    may   have   been,    by   his    own 
magnificence,  giddy  with  the  flatteries  that  were 


74  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

lavished  on  him,  Buckingham  at  the  Court  of 
Louis  XIII.  could  see  none  worthy  of  his  own 
homage  but  the  young,  charming,  and  vivacious 
Queen.  He  fell  violently  in  love  with  Anne  of 
Austria,  who  was  now  between  twenty-four 
and  twenty-five  years  of  age.  The  Queen, 
being  a  Spaniard,  was  a  natural  coquette  ; 
and  Madame  de  Motteville,  than  whom  no 
one  knew  her  better,  says  that  Anne  of  Austria 
was  not  disposed  to  blame  a  certain  open 
and  honest  gallantry  **  ou  on  ne  prend  aucun 
engagement  particulier '' — in  other  words, 
which  involves  no  notion  of  compromise. 
''  She  accepted  with  a  certain  kindness  and 
no  seeming  surprise  a  passion  which,  while 
evoking  memories  of  her  own  country,  and 
even  pleasing  her  amour-propre^  offered  no 
peril  to  her  virtue.''  If,  however,  the 
numerous  fetes  in  Buckingham's  honour 
brought  him  often  in  the  presence  of  the 
Queen,  the  Court  was  witness  of  their  meet- 


George  Villiers,  first  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  his  Assassination. 

From  an  engraving  after  C  Johnson, 


INFATUATION  OF  BUCKINGHAM. 


77 


ings  ;  and  though  this  was  a  circumstance 
which  Buckingham  might  regret,  it  justified  the 
confidence  of  her  Majesty. 

A  week  of  great  parade  came  to  an  end, 
and  Henrietta  Maria,  gorgeously  escorted, 
began  her  progress  towards  England. 
Louis  XIII.,  falling  unwell,  got  no  farther 
than  Compiegne.  Anne  of  Austria,  with  her 
mother-in-law,  Marie  de  Medici,  accompanied 
the  bride  to  Amiens,  where  the  ballets,  the 
masques,  and  the  banquets  were  renewed. 
Buckingham,  it  is  said,  invented  causes  of 
delay,  that  he  might  still  be  haunting  the 
skirts  of  Anne.  As  Amiens  contained  no 
palace  capable  of  lodging  three  queens 
together,  their  Majesties  were  separately 
housed  ;  Anne  of  Austria  in  a  sumptuous 
building  in  the  midst  of  a  great  garden  on  the 
banks  of  the  Somme.  Here  the  young  Queen 
and  her  Court  would  often  stroll,  and  here  she 
found  herself  with    Buckingham    one  evening, 


\i 


78 


TBI:  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


but  not  alone.  Lord  Holland  had  the  Duchesse 
de  Chevreuse  on  his  arm,  and  all  the  ladies 
of  the  Queen's  suite  were  in  attendance. 
Buckingham  conducted  Anne  ;  and  it  would 
appear  that,  emboldened  by  the  nearness 
of  their  hour  of  separation,  he  grew  more 
ardent  in  his  suit.  Night  was  falling,  and  at 
the  turning  of  an  alley  he  threw  himself  at  the 
Queen's  feet  and  besought  her  passionately. 
She,  **  alarmed,  and  alive  on  a  sudden  to  the 
danger  she  was  in,  gave  a  loud  cry  ;  and 
Putange,  her  equerry,  who  was  walking  a 
few  paces  behind,  rushed  up  and  seized 
Buckingham.  In  a  moment  the  whole  Court 
was  on  the  scene,  and  Buckingham  disappeared 
in  the  crowd."  * 

Two  days  later,  Henrietta  Maria  was  on  her 
way  to  Boulogne ;  Marie  de  Medici,  her 
mother,  and  Anne  of  Austria,  her  sister-in-law, 
going  with   her  to  the  gates   of  Amiens.     It 

*  Topin. 


INFATUATION  OF  BUCKINGHAM,        79 

was  on  the  step  of  Annes  carriage  that 
Buckingham  said  his  farewell  ;  ''  burying  his 
face  in  the  window-curtain  to  conceal  his 
tears."  The  Princesse  de  Conti,  who  rode  with 
the  Queen,  said  to  her  (on  Madame  de  Motte- 
ville's  assurance),  that,  **  although  she  could 
answer  to  the  King  for  the  virtue  of  her 
Majesty,  she  would  say  less  for  her  on  the 
score  of  kindness — and  she  thought  the 
Queen's  eyes  held  a  kind  of  pity  for  the 
defeated  lover." 

But  Anne  had  not  seen  quite  the  last  of  him. 
Contrary  winds  stayed  Charles's  bride  at 
Boulogne,  and  Buckingham  the  proud,  who 
had  stormed  Paris  in  a  cuirass  of  diamonds, 
crept  back  to  Amiens,  with  Lord  Holland  for 
accomplice,  pretending  that  a  letter  of  import- 
ance for  Marie  de  Medici  had  been  forgotten. 
It  was  early  morning  when  he  presented  him- 
self at  Anne's  palace;  and  the  Queen,  who  had 
just  been   bled  for  some  ailment,  was  in  bed, 


,/ 

8o  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

with  several  of  her  ladies  about  her.  In  royal 
houses,  up  to  the  era  of  the  Revolution,  the 
bed-chamber  was  scarcely  more  private  than 
the  boudoir,  and  Buckingham  and  Holland 
were  introduced.  Buckingham  "fell  on  his 
knees  at  the  bedside,  kissed  the  coverlet,  and 
broke  into  a  transport  of  passion,  greatly  to 
the  scandal  of  the  maids  of  honour.  The 
Comtesse  de  Lannoi,  entreating  him  to  rise, 
said  severely  that  these  were  not  French 
ways."  "  I  am  not  a  Frenchman,"  replied 
the  Duke,  and  he  continued  to  plead  tenderly 
with  the  Queen.  Her  Majesty,  greatly  em- 
barrassed, could  find  nothing  to  say,  until  she 
roused  herself  to  reproach  the  Duke  for  his 
boldness.  But  this  she  did  with  no  great  show 
of  indignation,  and  her  heart  was  perhaps  not 
quite  untouched."  *  Buckingham  returned  to 
Boulogne,    and   never    saw   Anne   of  Austria 


■f 


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Topin, 


/ 


IN  FA  TUA  TION "  OF  B  UCKINGHAM.         83 

These   are    the  two   memorable   scenes    of 
Amiens  with    which   scandal   was    once   very- 
busy,  but  with  which  history,  seeking  proofs, 
was   never   seriously   concerned.     During   the 
troubles  of  the  Fronde,   and  the  heat  of  civil 
war,    the    hint   of    a    criminal    love    between 
Buckingham  and  the  Queen,  whose  honour  he 
would  very  willingly  have  spoiled,  was  bruited 
often  ;  but  all  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that 
Anne     of     Austria    outwitted    a     passionate, 
unscrupulous   gallant,    and   was   never   for   an 
instant  his  victim.     A  kind  of  Spanish  tender- 
ness she  may  have  felt  for  him,  and  we  may 
suspect  her  of  no  small  skill  in  flirtation  ;  but, . 
as  there  is  no  particle  of  evidence  to  adduce, 
accusation  may  go  no  farther.     It  is  abundantly 
clear   that,    so   far   as    Buckingham   was   con- 
cerned, the  Queen  was  never  without  witnesses 
to  her  conduct.     Marie  de   Medici,  who  bore 
her  daughter-in-law   no   very  goodwill   at  this 
period,  took  upon  herself  to  assure  Louis  XIII. 


/,♦ 


84  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

that  he  need  not  concern  himself  with  rumour; 
that  even  if  the  Queen  had    been    willing   to 
demean   herself  she  was   so    perpetually   sur- 
rounded   that    the     opportunity    could    never 
have   offered.     As   for    the    impetuous    indis- 
cretions of  Buckingham,    the  Queen   had  not 
encouraged  and  could  not  well  have  prevented 
them :  in  her  younger  days,  said  Madame  de 
Medici  to  her  son,  such  things  had  happened 
to  herself.*     Madame  might  have  added  that 
the  Due   de   Montmorency   and   the   Due  de 
Bellegarde  had   both   been   in   love   with   the 
fascinating  Queen   of  Louis   XIII.,    and  that 
neither  of  them  had  fared  one  whit  better  than 

Buckingham. 

Says  Topin: — "Nothing  seems  to  accuse  the 
Queen  save  the  persistent  coldness  towards  her 
of  Louis  XIII.  But  does  this  conduct  date 
from  the  visit  of  Buckingham  to  Paris  ?  Was 
Louis  so  completely  estranged  from  the  Queen 

*  M^moires  of  La  Porte. 


INFATUATION  OF  BUCKINGHAM.         85 

as  has  been  supposed  ?  And  may  we  seek  in 
this  the  proof  of  an  act  of  infidelity  on  the 
Queen's  part,  whether  with  Buckingham  in 
1625,  as  the  result  of  love,  or  with  some  person 
unknown,  in  1630,  as  the  result  of  deliberate 
calculation,  and  to  the  end  that,  after  the  death 
of  Louis  XIII.,  which  at  that  moment  seemed 
imminent,  she  might  reign  in  the  name  of  her 
illegitimate  child,  who,  on  the  King's  un- 
expected recovery,  must  be  hidden  away,  to 
become  later  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask  .'' " 


I 


M 


C- 


86 


THE  ACQUITTAL    OF  THE   QUEEN.        87 


1/ 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Born     within    eight     days     of    one 

The  Acquittal 

of  another,  Anne  of  Austria,  Infanta 
the  Queen,  ^f  gpain,  and  Louis,  Dauphin  of 
France,  may  be  said  to  have  been  pledged 
in  infancy.  Astrologers  had  announced  that, 
delivered  under  one  star,  they  were  des- 
tined to  love  each  other,  married  or  not 
married.  The  little  Anne  lent  a  willing  ear 
to  the  wise  men's  predictions  ;  and  when,  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  she  was  bidding  good-bye 
to  the  Due  de  Mayenne,  who  had  come  to 
Madrid  to  sign  the  marriage  contract,  she 
instructed  him  to  tell  the  King  that  she  was 
"extremely  impatient  to  see  him."  Her 
governess  was  shocked,  but  the  Infanta  replied 
that  it  had  always  been  recommended  to  her 
to  speak  the  truth.     Two  years  later,  in   161 5, 


she  was  a  bride  of  fourteen,  and  as  enthusiastic 
as  ever  about  the  boy  she  had  married. 

Much  less  enthusiastic  was  the  boy.  He 
had  always  declared  that  he  hated  the 
Spaniards,  ''  because  they  are  the  enemies  of 
Papa  "  ;  and  on  two  occasions,  when  his  father, 
Henri  IV.,  talked  to  him  of  his  future  marriage 
with  the  Infanta,  he  gave  stubborn  answers  in 
the  negative.  He  was  grave  and  observant 
for  his  years,  intolerant  of  the  King's  mistresses 
who  tried  to  conciliate  him,  and  precociously 
fierce  against  their  children,  whom  he  would 
not  call  his  brothers  and  would  not  suffer  at 
his  table.  After  the  death  of  Henry  IV.,  the 
boy-King  shewed  himself  less  and  less  in 
sympathy  with  the  gross  speech  and  habits  of 
the  Court,  and  was  fonder  of  hawking  than  of 
chambering. 

The  idea  of  marriage  seems  always  to  have 
repelled  him,  and  after  four  years  of  wedded 
life,  Anne  was  a  wife  only  to  the  extent  that 


/  \ 


88 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


the  church  had  made  her  one.  The  conduct 
of  the  King  had  become,  indeed,  almost  a 
question  of  State.  His  determined  abstention 
had  moved  the  French  Court,  it  had  offended 
the  Court  of  Spain,  it  was  regarded  as  a  slight 
by  the  papal  nuncio  and  the  Court  of  Tuscany, 
whose  aid  had  been  considerable  in  bringing 
about  the  union. 

In  January,  1619,  some  kind  of  rapproche- 
ment seems  to  have  been  effected,  but  the 
hopes  that  were  built  on  it  were  disappointed. 
Again  in  1622  it  was  said  with  confidence 
that  an  heir  to  the  throne  might  be  expected, 
but  almost  immediately  afterwards  the  Queen 
was  the  victim  of  an  accident.  The  visit  of 
Buckingham  left  the  King  unmoved,  and  had 
no  result  in  modifying  his  relations  with  the 
Queen.  Having  freed  himself  front  his 
mother's  yoke,  Louis  XHI.  passed  absolutely 
under  that  of  Richelieu  ;  and  jealously  as  the 
cardinal-minister  watched  the  young  sovereign, 


\i 


\t 


Louis    XIII. 


>r      ^ 


f      <^ 


I 


*"^»*%#' 


I 


\\ 


THE  ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   QUEEN. 


91 


he  was  yet  more  jealous  in  his  surveillance  of 
the  Queen,  an  object  of  his  implacable  resent- 
ment. Is  it  possible  for  one  moment  to  believe 
in  an  intrigue  of  hers,  with  Buckingham,  with 
Mazarin,  or  with  another,  which  Richelieu 
fails  to  know  of,  whose  spies  penetrated  to  the 
inmost  recesses  of  the  Court  ?  And  knowing 
It,  would  he  have  hesitated  an  instant  to  ruin 
the  woman  whom  he  hated,  by  confiding  his 
knowledge  to  the  King  ? 

Let  us  consider  next  the  circumstances  of 
the  illness  of  Louis  XII L  in  1630.  The  King 
fell  ill  at  Lyons,  not,  says  Topin,  at  the 
beginning  of  August  (which  has  been  asserted), 
but  on  the  22nd  of  September;  "and  here 
the  dates  are  of  the  utmost  importance."  On 
the  29th,  an  exhausting  dysentery  added  itself 
to  a  severe  attack  of  fever,  and  at  midnight 
the  doctors  despaired  of  saving  him.  He  took 
a  tender  farewell  of  the  Queen,  and  entreated 
her  forgiveness  for  all  things.     Towards  noon 


»     — !—-•  '^ 


; 


92 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


of  the  next  day  the  King  still  lingered,  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Lyons  was  preparing  to 
administer  extreme  unction,  when  the  doctors, 
who  had  already  bled  the  enfeebled  body  six 
times,  ordered  a  seventh  bleeding.  This 
would  assuredly  have  carried  off  the  patient, 
but  before  the  operation  could  be  performed 
the  true  cause  of  the  malady  revealed  itself: 
an  abscess  in  the  stomach  broke,  and  the 
King  was  saved. 

On  his  recovery,  Louis  XIII.  quitted  Lyons 
with  the  Queen,  whose  unaffected  tender- 
ness and  solicitude  at  his  sick  bed  had 
touched  him  closely.  **  In  that  crisis,  both 
had  forgotten  the  past.  The  coldness  of  the 
one  was  overcome,  the  wounded  pride  of  the 
other  was  healed."  Exulting  in  her  unwonted 
empire,  it  was  not  enough  for  the  Queen  to 
have  won  a  tardy  place  in  her  husband's 
heart  ;  she  desired  to  complete  her  triumph 
by  casting  down  the  minister  who  had  opposed 


.n 


) 


,\/ 


THE  ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   QUEEN.      93 

himself  between  them,  and,  at  one  moment, 
she  had  nearly  been  successful— but  the  King 
could  rule  only  by  the  Cardinal. 

In  January,  1631,  the  Queen  was  manifestly 
enceinte.  Supposing  this  the  result  of  a 
criminal  intrigue,  at  what  date  should  the 
commencement  of  the  pregnancy  be  placed  ? 

"Is  it,  as  was  asserted,  at  the  moment  and 
by  reason   of  the   apparently  imminent   death 
of  Louis  XIII.?     But  the  Queen  was  delivered 
within  the  first  five  days  of  April ;  consequently 
the   child,  conceived   the  30tfi  of  September, 
would   by   no   means    have   attained    the   full 
period,  and  could  not,  therefore,  have  become 
the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask.*     Was  it  on  the 
arrival  of  Louis  XIII.  at  Lyons  early  in  the 
August  of  1630?      But  at  this  date,  Anne  of 
Austria  had  not  the  vital  motive  for  becoming 
a   mother,   which,    according   to   her  accusers, 

*  The  Medical  science  of  the  present  day  might  succeed  in  saving 
such  a  child  ;  but  the  chances  would  be  very  slight  indeed. 


(■■ 


94  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

she  had  on  the  30th  of  September,  when  the 
King  lay  on  the  threshold  of  death.  Either, 
then,  the  child  is  born  incapable  of  living, 
or  its  conception  mounts  to  an  epoch  which 
makes  Louis  XIII.  the  father,  because  the 
Queen  had  no  need  to  procure  herself  an  heir 
by  unlawful  means." 

The  truth  is,  that  this,  the  third  pregnancy 
of  Anne  of  Austria,  traces  to  the  reconciliation 
which  followed  on  the  desperate  illness  of 
the  King.  Richelieu  himself  is  a  witness  here. 
"  If  France  should  be  blessed  with  this 
fortune,"  he  wrote,  "it  will  be  the  fruit  of 
God's  blessing,  and  of  the  kindly  relations 
established  of  late  between  his  Majesty  and 
the  Queen."  *  Not  a  word  on  Richelieu's  part 
which   inculpates   or    seeks    to    inculpate   the 

•  Lettres  et  papicrs  de  Richelieu.  Found  among  the  letters  and 
documents  which  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  Duchesse  d'Aiguillon, 
Richelieu's  niece,  to  the  Archives  de  I'E/at,  and  which  were  published 
by  the  learned  Avenet  in  his  collection  of  Documents  inedits  de 
Phistoire  de  France. 


THE  ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   QUEEN. 


95 


0 


Queen,  and  it  has  been  observed  with  justice, 
that  history  could  never  hope  to  be  better 
instructed  than  that  ^*  clairvoyant  and  pitiless 
minister.'' 

Not  for  seven  years  were  the  ardent  hopes 
of  the  nation  to  be  realised.  On  the  5th  of 
September,  1638,  Anne  of  Austria  gave  birth 
to  a  son  who  was  to  ascend  the  throne  as 
Louis  XIV.  This  is  also  the  day  which  has 
been  assigned  to  the  birth  of  the  Iron  Mask 
by  those  who,  rejecting  the  theory  of  an 
illegitimate  child,  have  pronounced  for  that 
of  a  twin  brother,  born  in  the  evening,  '*  and 
condemned,  for  his  tardy  arrival,  to  perpetual 
imprisonment.''  The  problem  of  the  twin  is 
briefly  to  be  considered.  In  no  country  in 
Europe,  perhaps,  was  the  birth  of  a  royal  child 
more  jealously  scrutinised,  more  elaborately 
and  minutely  attested,  than  in  the  France  of 
the  Monarchy.  Such  an  event  might  over- 
whelm   the   expectations   of  a   collateral    heir, 


y 


M^ 


96 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


or  might  ruin  the  prospects  of  a  party. 
Precautions  the  most  extraordinary  were 
employed,  precautions  which  may  be  said, 
practically,  to  have  excluded  the  possibility 
of  fraud  or  deception.  Not  only  were  the 
greatest  persons  in  the  State  compelled  to  be 
eye-witnesses  of  the  event,  but  the  people 
itself  was  summoned  ''  to  assist ''  at  the  birth 
of  the  Child  of  France.  The  doors  of  the 
royal  dwelling  were  flung  open  in  this  solemn 
hour,  the  people  thronged  in,  and  passed  freely 
into  the  innermost  chambers  of  the  palace. 
Madame  Campan  relates  how,  at  the  birth 
of  the  first  child  of  Marie  Antoinette,  the  room 
in  which  the  Queen  lay  was  so  intolerably 
crowded  that  Louis  XVI.  broke  a  window 
to  let  in  more  air.  Indeed,  this  practice,  so 
distressing  and  humiliating  to  the  royal  mother, 
was  invariable  and  all  but  immemorial. 

It  was  not  omitted  at  the  birth  of  Louis  XIV. 
At  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of 


THE  ACQUITTAL    OF  THE   QUEEN. 


97 


September,  1638,  Louis  XIII.  was  summoned 
to  the  Queen's  chamber,  where  he  remained 
until  he  had  the  happiness  to  know  that  a 
son  and  heir  had  been  born  to  him.  At 
six,  there  arrived  in  succession  at  Saint- 
Germain,  the  King's  brother,  Gaston  d'Orl6ans 
(who  had  a  vital  interest  in  assuring  him- 
self that  the  birth  was  genuine),  the  Prin- 
cesse  de  Conde,  Madame  de  Vendome,  the 
Chancellor,  Madame  de  t^ansac  (the  future 
governess  of  the  prince)  and  Mesdames  de 
Senecey  and  de  la  Flotte  of  the  royal  house- 
hold. Close  to  the  Queen's  couch  an  altar 
had  been  raised,  where  the  Bishops  of  Lisieux, 
Meaux,  and  Beauvais  pronounced  mass  in 
turn.  Pressing  up  to  the  altar  and  flowing 
out  into  the  room  beyond,  were  princesses, 
dukes,  duchesses,  and  bishops,  ''  with  a  vast 
crowd  of  the  common  folk  who  had  invaded 
the  palace  from  an  early  hour,  and  who  now 
completely  filled  it." 

7 


ii 


1 , 


/\ 


-  /- 


III 


98         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

At  eleven  a.m.  precisely  the  Queen's  pangs 
were   over,    and    the    birth    of    a    prince    was 
announced.        The    resentment,    ill-concealed, 
of  Gaston    d'Orleans    did    not    escape    a    few 
observant  eyes,   but    passed   almost   unnoticed 
amid  the  general  joy.     The  melancholy  Louis 
XI 1 1,  broke  into  smiles,  and  called   on   those 
around    him    to    admire    the    fine    proportions 
of  his    son.      Shortly  afterwards,   and    in    the 
Queens  chamber,    the   Child    of   France   was 
baptised  by  the  Bishop  of  Meaux,  chaplain-in- 
chief      A    King's    messenger   was   despatched 
in    all    haste    to     bear    the    great     news    to 
Paris,    but    the  joyous    cries    of  the    populace 
outran    his    horse    all    along    the    route,    and 
as   the    messenger   galloped    into   the   capital, 
the    bells    were    already    swinging    in    every 
church. 

Meanwhile,  what  of  the  Twin  ?  The  state- 
ment of  Soulavie  was,  it  will  be  remembered, 
that  the  Queen  was  delivered  at  eight  in  the 


1 


I.^ 


K 


Cardinal  Richelieu. 

After  Champalgne. 


r  . 


A 


THE  ACQUITTAL    OF  THE   QUEEN,     loi 

evening  of  a  second  son,  who,  conformably 
to  Richelieu's  counsel,  was  privily  and  at 
once  put  away.  The  role  here  invented  for 
Richelieu  was  of  such  immense  importance 
that  Soulavie  should  at  least  have  been  careful 
to  know  where  the  Cardinal  was  at  this  capital 
moment.  For  the  truth  is  that  Richelieu 
was  not  at  Saint-Germain  at  all.  He  had 
quitted  the  Court  at  the  end  of  July  ;  he  was 
at  Saint-Quentin  on  the  day  of  Louis  XIV.'s 
birth,  and  he  did  not  return  to  Paris  until 
the  2nd  of  October.  The  letter  of  congratula- 
tion which  he  wrote  to  their  Majesties  from 
Saint-Quentin  is  printed  in  his  Lettres  et 
papiers,  Richelieu,  then,  is  summoned  in  vain 
as  a  principal  instrument  of  the  plot  imagined 
by  Soulavie.  As  the  Queen's  enemy,  he  had 
every  interest  to  denounce  her  to  the  King  ; 
as  her  suppositious  friend  and  accomplice, 
he  could  scarcely  have  aided,  at  the  distance 
of  Saint-Quentin,   the  conspiracy   which   must 


I 


^  » 

1 


102 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


have  been  compressed  within  an  hour  at  the 
utmost  in  the  palace  of  Saint-Germain. 

But   let    Richelieu    be    dismissed    from    the 
case.       We   are   to    receive   as   plausible    the 
suggestion  that  a  twin  brother  of  Louis  XIV. 
IS  born  without   the  knowledge  of  the   Court. 
The  birth   is  nine  hours  late,  but  the  palace 
is    still    swarming    with    the    princes    of    the 
family — and  no  one    has  heard  of  it.      Or,   it 
is  known   to   all,   and   all    are   agreed,   for    no 
conceivable  reason,  to  keep  the  secret.       The 
secret  is   so  well   kept,  moreover,   that    never 
once  is  it  divulged  or  even  hinted  at    in  any 
Memoir  of    the   period.       We   have   contem- 
porary notices  of  Anne  of  Austria  which  are 
scarcely  discreet,   and    we   have  others   which 
are  less  than  discreet ;  but  we  have  no  record 
of  her  by  any  writer  of  her   own  day  which 
contains    the  faintest  reference   to  the  surrep- 
titious birth  of  a  twin  brother  of  Louis  XIV. 
Let  this  birth,  however,  be  admitted.     Let 


/ 


/ 


\ 


THE  ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   QUEEN     103 

it  be  supposed  that,  at  eight  in  the  evening, 
the  witnesses  were  few,  and  had  pledged 
themselves  to  secrecy.  Was  there  any  reason 
for  secrecy?  Why  should  Louis  XIII.  be, 
as  Soulavie  says,  on  the  point  of  fainting 
when  he  learns  that  he  has  two  heirs  instead 
of  one  '^.  The  question  of  the  trouble  that 
might  arise  from  the  idea  that  the  second 
born  is  the  first  conceived  is  not  admissible  ; 
for,  never  sanctioned  in  medicine,  this  em- 
pirical theory  had  no  recognition  in  the  law 
of  France.  From  commoner  to  King,  the 
first-born  was  the  heir.  Far,  therefore,  from 
being  alarmed  by  the  birth  of  a  twin,  Louis 
XIII.  had  reason  to  praise  his  fortune,  for 
the  right  of  inheritance  was  now  doubly 
consolidated  in  his  own  family. 

Once  more,  however,  for  the  rounding  off 
of  the  argument,  let  the  impossible  be  received 
and  acquiesced  in.  This  ambiguous  son  of 
Anne  of  Austria  is  born,  we  will  say.     He  is 


I04        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

brought  into  the  world  shortly  before  1625,  and 
Buckingham  is  his  father;  or  in  1631,  when 
Louis  XIII.  is  believed  to  be  dying,  and 
Mazarin,  or  some  gallant  unknown,  is  his 
father;  or  in  1638,  when  he  is  presented  to 
us  as  the  most  interesting,  the  most  romantic, 
and  the  most  unfortunate  of  twins.  Entrusted 
to  some  creature  of  consummate  devotion  and 
discretion,  he  is  reared  in  the  country  ;  and 
if,  in  the  course  of  time,  there  is  developed  a 
rather  striking  likeness  to  a  certain  Queen- 
mother  or  a  King,  no  one  perceives  it,  or 
those  who  do  perceive  it  are  polite  enough 
to  refrain  from  questions.  But  at  what  epoch 
was  he  imprisoned,  and  for  what  cause  ? 
''  From  the  day  that  he  becomes  the  famous 
prisoner  whom  Saint-Mars  conducts  in  1698 
from  Sainte-Marguerite  to  the  Bastille,  we 
have  the  right  to  ask  when,  how,  and  in 
what  circumstances  he  was  arrested  and  con- 
fided to  his  gaoler  }  " 


THE  ACQUITTAL    OF  THE   QUEEN,     105 

He  was  allowed  his  liberty,  we  will  suppose, 
during  the  lifetime  of  Anne  of  Austria;  that 
would  be  not  unreasonable,  provided  he  were 
kept  out  of  sight.  Was  he  imprisoned  after 
her  death  ?  But  Anne  of  Austria  died  in 
January,  1666,  and  Saint-Mars  receives  no 
prisoner.  Did  the  arrest  take  place,  as 
Voltaire  affirms,  In  1661,  after  the  death  of 
Mazarin  ?  But  at  this  date,  and  three  years 
later,  Saint-Mars  was  still  an  officer  of 
musketeers.  It  was  not  until  December,  1664, 
that  he  was  appointed  to  the  governorship 
of  Pignerol,  where,  in  the  following  month, 
he  received  Fouquet  into  his  keeping.  On 
the  20th  of  August,  1669,  arrives  at  Pignerol 
a  second  prisoner,  one  Eustache  Danger. 
But  Danger  is  known  to  us  :  an  obscure 
spy,  he  was  given  as  a  servant  to  Fouquet. 
Is  it  likely  that  Saint-Mars  would  have 
appointed  to  wait  on  Fouquet — who  had 
passed    all    his    life    near    Louis    XIV.     and 


io6       THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

Anne  of  Austria — a  prince  whose  features 
recalled  the  King*s  ?  From  the  date  of 
Dauger's  imprisonment  no  other  prisoner  is 
sent  to  Saint-Mars  until  the  Comte  de 
Lauzun  goes  to  Pignerol  in  1671.  After 
that,  at  long  intervals,  other  prisoners  are 
led  thither,  but  they  are  all  identified,  their 
crimes  or  their  faults  are  known. 

**  We  see  them  sometimes  not  too  well 
treated;  and  when,  in  i68f,  Saint-Mars  passes 
from  the  command  of  Pignerol  to  that  of 
Exiles,  he  takes  with  him  two  prisoners 
only,  whom  he  styles  contemptuously  **a  pair 
of  gaol-birds."  At  Exiles,  at  Pignerol,  at 
Sainte- Marguerite  (which  dungeon  w^as  taken 
over  by  Saint-Mars  in  1687),  if  new  prisoners 
are  entrusted  to  him,  we  know  to  what 
motives  their  incarceration  may  be  attributed  ; 
and  nothing  in  their  past,  nothing  in  their 
treatment  in  prison,  nothing  in  their  conduct 
allows  us  to  suspect  in    any  one  of  them    a 


r 


Cardinal  Mazaria. 

After  Mignard. 


^ 


.(* 


THE  ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   QUEEN,     109 

brother  of  Louis  XIV.  Needless  to  say, 
Saint-Mars  would  not  be  likely  to  designate 
his  prince  by  name  in  any  official  despatch, 
nor  should  proof  of  that  kind  be  demanded. 
But  when,  after  having  examined  in  turn  all 
the  prisoners  whom  the  future  governor  of 
the  Bastille  had  in  his  charge — and  among 
whom  must  of  necessity  be  found  that 
mysterious  one  with  whom  he  traversed 
France  in  1698 — we  have  satisfied  ourselves 
as  to  the  causes  of  their  arrest,  and  have 
penetrated  into  their  past ;  when  a  hundred 
authentic  despatches  *  render  it  absolutely 
certain  that  beyond  these  prisoners  there 
was  no  other,  have  we  not  reason  to  conclude 
with  the  question  :   Where  then  is  the  son  of 

Anne  d'Autriche  }['  f 

« 

Tradition,     fable,     legend,    ensnare     us     at 

*  Archives  dti  ministere  de  la  marine. — Archives  du  minisQre  de  la 
guerre. — Archives  du  ministere  des  affaires  Stranger es. — Archives 
imp^riales. 

t  Topin. 


no       THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

every  turn  in  this  enquiry.     Truth  and  fiction 
are     interwoven     in     the     strangest    manner. 
Around  every  legendary  hero  the  adventures 
of  other  persons  gradually  group  themselves, 
and  this  has  been  signally  the  case  with  the 
Man  in  the   Mask.     How  interesting— in   its 
relation     to     the    hypothesis    of    the    king's 
brother — is  the  story  of  the  boundless  defer- 
ence shown  to  the  prisoner,  and   the  visit  he 
received  at  Sainte-Marguerite  from  the  minis- 
ter   Louvois,    who    addresses    him    "with    a 
consideration  savouring  of  respect."     But  we 
shall   see   presently   that  no  one   goes  out  of 
his  way  to  show  deference  to  the  Mask  ;  and, 
as  for  the  visit  of  Louvois,   that  is  pure   in- 
vention.     In   1680  (eight  years,  be  it  noted, 
before     Saint-Mars    took     the    Man    in    the 
Mask  to  the  Isles)  Louvois,  who  had  broken 
his   leg,  went  to  Bareges  for  a  few  weeks  to 
complete    his    cure       In    Rousset's    Histoire 
de   Louvois,    we    have    the    detailed   itinerary 


I! 


\\ 


H 


w 


THE  ACQUITTAL    OF  THE    QUEEN,     iii 

of  the  journey,  and  Sainte-Marguerite  is  not 
found  in  it  ;  nor,  after  this,  was  Louvois 
ever  again  in  the  south  of  France.  The 
piquant  episode  of  the  silver  plate  (trans- 
formed by  Pere  Papon  into  a  linen  shirt) 
is  bound  up  with  the  theory  of  a  brother 
or  a  twin  brother  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  is 
highly  interesting  as  an  example  of  the 
commingling  of  fact  with  fiction  in  the 
popular  history  of  the  Mask.  The  story  of 
the  plate,  as  will  be  plain,  has  its  origin  in 
the  attempt  at  escape  of  a  Protestant  minis- 
ter confined  at  Sainte-Marguerite  in  1692. 
Indeed,  it  was  scarcely  even  an  attempt  at 
escape :  the  Protestant  minister  writes  some 
complaint  on  his  pewter-plate  or  vessel  (is  it 
necessary  to  say  that  State  prisoners  of  the 
17th  century  were  not  served  on  silver?), 
and  flings  it  out  of  window.  Out  of  this 
commonplace  fact  has  arisen  the  pungent 
tale   of  the   silver   dish    which    is    nearly    the 


ri2       THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

death  of  the  fisherman  who  rescues  it.  It 
was  believed — and  it  has  still  a  kind  of 
illiterate  currency. 

There    are    legends    which,    doing    hurt    to 
no   one's  memory,  it  seems  almost   a  pity  to 
displace    by    fact ;    but  it    is    always    grateful 
to    slay  a    fable    which    has    involved  a    repu- 
tation   in   disgrace.     This    has  been  the   inte- 
rest   and    the    motive    of  refuting    once  again 
the    discarded    and    long-contemned    invention 
of    Voltaire,    which,     modified     variously    by 
successive  writers,  has  crammed   the   mind  of 
Christendom.      It    may    lessen    the   charm    of 
the    story   to   remove   from    it   the  captivating 
person   of  a  brother  of  Louis   XIV.,  but  the 
arid   truth    of  history    repeats    that   the     Iron 
Mask    was    not  a   son    of    Anne   of    Austria. 
Who  has  proved   the  birth   of  the   pretended 
prince  ?      Who    will     give    the    date    of   his 
imprisonment  ?     Not  even    in    the    France   of 
the  old  Monarchy  were  royal  infants  delivered 


I 

\ 


THE  ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   QUEEN.     113 

by  the  gods,  and  inscrutably  concealed  by 
them.  The  malign  concept  of  Voltaire 
returns  again  to  the  rag-bag  of  Time — alms 
meet  for  oblivion. 


» 

\ 


8 


X 


T14 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH,      115 


CHAPTER    V. 

English   readers  will  not   expect   to 

The  Expiation  -  .. 

0,  be  detained  long  over  the  case  ol 
Monmooth.  Monmouth.  Monmouth's  claims  to 
the  mask  were  the  imagination  of  an  ex-officer 
of  French  cavalry,  by  name  Germain-Fran9ois 
Poullain  de  Saint-Foix.*  Single-handed  he 
defended  them,  but  with  the  valour  of  six.  His 
hypothesis  was  only  too  easily  destroyed,  and 
perhaps  its  most  valid  title  to  respect  during 
the  lifetime  of  Saint-Foix  lay  in  his  perfect 
readiness    to    prove    it    at   the   point   of    the 

rapier. 

The  early  career  of  Monmouth  scarcely  con- 
cerns us.  The  natural  son  of  Charles  II.  and 
Lucy  Walter  or  Walters  (the  ^^browne,  beauti- 

*  Bom  February  5,  1698;  died  August  25,  1776.— lung. 


1/ 


/H' 


ful,  bold,  but  insipid  creature  "  whom  the  diarist 
Evelyn  encountered  in  Paris),  his  father  doted 
on  him,  the  Court  spoiled  him,  and,  in  the 
prime  of  manhood  he  was,  for  the  general 
people — 

The  young  men's  vision,  and  the  old  men's  dream  ! 

The  line  is  Dryden's,  and  the  famous  flattery 
of  the  picture  in  ''Absalom  and  Achitophel'* 
may  once  again  be  cited  : — 

Early  in  foreign  fields  he  won  renown, 
With  kings  and  states  allied  to  Israel's  crown  : 
In  peace  the  thoughts  of  war  he  could  remove, 
And  seem'd  as  he  were  only  born  for  love. 
Whate'er  he  did,  was  done  with  so  much  ease, 
In  him  alone  'twas  natural  to  please : 
His  motions  all  accompanied  with  grace  ; 
And  Paradise  was  open'd  in  his  face. 

History  has  rejected  the  verdict  of  Monmouth's 

contemporaries.     A  man  of  brilliant  looks  and 

most   eminent   graces   of    person,    a    polished 

courtier,  a  sportsman,  and  (save  at  the  crisis  of 

Sedgemoor)  a  brave  man  in  battle  :  these  were 

certainly    his    best    recommendations    to    the 

8* 


ii6       THE  MAN  IN   THE  IRON  MASK. 

general  goodwill.  He  lacked  almost  every 
element  of  greatness.  His  conduct  of  the 
rebellion  against  James  II.  showed  that  he  was 
neither  a  leader  nor  an  organiser ;  defeated,  he 
left  his  devoted  followers  to  their  fate  ;  and,  in 
the  most  critical  hour  of  his  existence — the 
interview  with  the  implacable  James — he  dis- 
played a  cowardice  and  a  baseness  of  spirit 
which  disgusted  the  King,  amazed  and  shocked 
the  French  ambassador,  and  drew  down  upon 
his  memory  the  scathing  rebukes  of  Macaulay. 
Day  was  not  yet  full  come  on  the  morning  of 
the  6th  of  July,  1685,  when  Monmouth,  with 
Grey  and  the  German  Buyse  beside  him,  was 
riding  in  flight  from  the  lost  field  of  Sedge- 
moor.  It  is  but  just  to  say  that,  up  to  the 
moment  at  which  he  knew  himself  defeated,  he 
had  fought,  on  foot  and  pike  in  hand,  like  a 
stalwart  soldier.  But  the  moment  of  defeat 
was  surely  the  one  in  which  a  rebel  of  courage 
and  of  heart  would  remember  the  men  whom  he 


\' 


'.  1 


Charles  II. 

From  an  engraving  by  Sherwin,     {The  wax  effigy  in  Westminster  Abbey 

was  modeiled  from  this' engraving.] 


^ 


I 


\ 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH,      119 

had  summoned  to  his  flag.  History  has  few 
more  touching  instances  of  devotion  to  a  feeble 
cause  than  those  which  the  wretched  memory 
of  Sedgemoor  will  eternally  evoke.  Those 
''Mendip  miners"  and  poor  peasants,  with 
their  scythes  and  bludgeons  and  a  few  old 
rusty  guns,  who  shouted  for  ^*  King 
Monmouth"  while  Monmouth  was  among 
them,  and  who  tried  to  stem  the  whirlwind 
of  James's  cavalry  when  Monmouth  had 
abandoned  them,  deserved  to  die  for  a 
better  treason,  and  for  a  nobler  traitor. 

There  is  no  need  to  rehearse  again  the 
details  of  the  flight  and  capture  of  Monmouth. 
He  must  have  realised  his  doom  in  the  hour 
of  his  arrest,  and  it  remained  to  him  only  to 
meet  it  as  the  son  of  a  king,  and  as  the  van- 
quished leader  of  an  ineffectual  revolt.  But 
twice  he  failed,  and  despicably,  in  the  fortitude 
that  inspires  the  great  insurgent.  He  had 
abandoned  his  heroic  peasants  when  his  mili- 


i"  . 


120        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH.       121 


tary  knowledge  told  him   that  the  battle  had 
gone  to  the  King  ;  and  he  abandoned  his  own 
manhood  when    he    found  himself  in   James's 
clutches.     His  letter  to  the  King  from  Ring- 
wood  is  branded  by   Macaulay  as   *'that  of  a 
man  whom  a  craven  fear  had  made  insensible 
to  shame" — his  behaviour  in  the  interview  with 
the  King  degrades  him  deeper  still.      It  was  an 
interview  which  James  II.  should  never  have 
accorded.      He  was  justified  in  sending  to  the 
scaffold   an  enemy  who  had  not  only  usurped 
the  title  of  king,  but  whose  proclamation  was 
charged     with     hideous    libels  ;     but,     having 
resolved  upon  the  death  of  Monmouth,  James 
should     not,      in     common     humanity,      have 
admitted    him    to    his   presence.     That   cruel 
favour,  worthy  of  the  most  resentful  sovereign 
in   English    history,    tempted    the    beaten   and 
broken  Monmouth  to  plead  miserably  and  most 
ignominiously  for    the  life   which   was  already 
lost  to  him. 


\ 


With  his  arms  bound,  Monmouth  grovelled 
on  the  floor  at  the  King's  feet;*  tried  to 
embrace  him  by  the  knees  ;  begged  for  life,  for 
life  only.  The  champion  of  Protestantism — a 
position  which  had  disgraced  him  with  his 
father,  and  the  plea  which  had  supported  his 
rebellion  against  his  uncle — he  offered,  in  his 
last  desperate  extremity,  to  become  a  Catholic. 
James  turned  from  him  in  contempt,  and 
Monmouth's  final  hope  was  extinguished. 

It  is  at  this  dramatic  moment  that  M. 
Germain-Francois  Poullain  de  Saint-Foix  ap- 
propriates the  doomed  adventurer,  hands  Rim 
over  to  Louis  XIV.,  who  passes  him  on  to 
Saint-Mars,  who  transforms  him  into  the  Man 
in  the  Mask. 

James  the  unforgiving,  it  is  pretended,  for- 
gave his  nephew  on  the  very  eve  of  the  fate 
he  had  ordained  for  him  ;  and  Louis  of  France 
consented  to  receive  and  lodge  him  for  life  in 
one    of    his    convenient    dungeons.      This,    of 


( 

r 


122         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

course,  implies  that  it  was  not  Monmouth,  but 
some  magnanimous  substitute  for  that  prince, 
whom  Ketch,  with  the  clumsiness  of  fright, 
mangled  to  death  on  Tower  Hill,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  15th  of  July,  1685.  How  then  was 
the  fraud  accomplished  ?  With  the  ease  which 
might  be  expected,  when  a  relenting  sovereign 
and  uncle  needs  fortune's  aid.  An  officer  of 
Monmouth,  condemned  with  him  to  the  axe, 
and  strikingly  like  the  Duke,  agreed  to  per- 
sonate him  on  the  scaffold!  Prelates  not 
acquainted  with  Monmouth  were  chosen  to 
attend  his  last  moments,  and  the  execution  was 
hurried,  that  there  might  be  no  opportunity  for 
a  ** dying  speech'*  to  the  crowd,  and  no  oppor- 
tunity for  the  crowd  to  recognise  the  generous 
impostor.  The  situation  would  no  doubt  be 
an  extremely  taking  one  in  the  theatre  ;  but  it 
was  not  the  situation  on  the  morning  of 
Monmouth's  death.  The  divines  by  whom  he 
was  accompanied  to  Tower  Hill  were  the  same 


w 


The.  Duke  of  Monmouth. 

Prom  a  contemporary  German  Broadsheet, 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH,       125 

who  had  exhorted  him  in  the  Tower  ;  and  the 
scene  on  the  scaffold,  far  from  being  hurried, 
was  so  protracted  that  it  must  have  been  an 
agony  to  the  spectators  who  had  thronged  in 
thousands  to  see  their  idol  die.  Nor  was  there 
any  unseemly  eagerness  on  the  part  of  those 
in  attendance  upon  Monmouth  to  send  their 
victim  in  silence  to  the  block  :  on  the  contrary, 
as  will  be  seen,  it  was  Monmouth  himself  who 
held  back,  when  urged  by  them  to  address  the 
soldiers. 

It  is  when  he  comes  to  the  proof  that  Saint- 
Foix,  as  may  be  imagined,  is  so  terribly  hard 
put  to  it.  He  has  not  even  stubble  for  his 
bricks.  Beyond  the  tradition  of  the  feigned 
execution  of  Monmouth  (which  was  for  many 
years  a  cherished  belief  of  our  own  west- 
country  peasants),  he  offers  only  the  vaguest 
of  rumours  and  the  idlest  of  conjectures.  He 
cites  (with  a  confession  of  little  confidence)  an 
anonymous  libel  published  in  Amsterdam  and 


/ 


126         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

Paris,  under  the  title  Amours  de  Charles  IL 
et  de  Jacques  II „  rois  d\4ngleterre,  wherein 
Skelton,  whom  William  of  Orange  had  re- 
moved from  the  lieutenancy  of  the  Tower,  is 
reported  as  informing  Lord  Danby  that  ''on 
the  night  after  the  pretended  execution  of  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth,  the  King,  accompanied 
by  three  men,  came  himself  to  remove  him 
from  the  Tower.  They  covered  his  head  with 
a  kind  of  hood,  and  the  King  and  the  three 
mounted  with  him  into  a  coach."  Although 
this  tract  is  put  forward  by  Saint-Foix  as  one 
of  his  principal  pieces,  he  spoils  at  a  stroke 
whatever  worth  it  may  have  had  for  him  by 
the  candid  admission  that  it  should  be  classed 
with  **  those  books  whose  authors  seek  only  to 
entertain  their  readers." 

His  next  witness  is  one  Nelaton,  a  surgeon, 
and  a  haunter  of  that  hot-bed  of  gossip  the 
Cafe  Procope,  which  has  but  lately  disappeared 
from  Paris.     Nelaton's  friends  of  the  Cafe  were 


■( 


\ 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH       127 

familiar  with  a  story  which  he  did  not  tire  of 
rehearsing:  how  that,  being  chief  assistant  to 
a  surgeon  near  the  Porte  Saint-Antoine,  he  was 
sent  one  day  to  bleed  a  prisoner  of  the  Bastille  ; 
the  governor  took  him  into  the  chamber  of  the 
prisoner,  whose  head  was  covered  with  a  long 
towel  knotted  on  the  neck ;  the  prisoner 
complained  of  great  pains  in  the  head ;  he 
wore  a  dressing-gown  of  black  and  yellow, 
ornamented  with  large  fleurs  dor — and  the 
surgeon's  assistant  perceived  by  the  prisoner's 
accent  that  he  was  an  Englishman.  How  and 
by  whom  the  Englishman  with  his  head  veiled 
in  a  towel  was  identified  with  Monmouth,  Saint- 
Foix  omits  to  say. 

From  the  Cafe  Procope  the  simple  advo- 
cate conducts  his  audience  to  the  boudoir  of 
that  light-behaved  celebrity,  the  Duchess  of 
Portsmouth.  ''  Father  Tournemine  has  often 
repeated  to  me  that,  paying  a  visit  to  the 
Duchess  of  Portsmouth  with  Father  Sanders, 


\ 


\ 


128         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

the  ancient  confessor  of  King  James,  the 
Duchess  told  them  that  she  should  always  re- 
proach the  memory  of  that  sovereign  with  the 
execution  of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  remem- 
bering that  Charles  II.,  in  the  hour  of  his  death 
and  on  the  point  of  receiving  the  sacrament, 
had  made  him  promise  before  the  Host  (which 
the  priest  Huldeston  *  had  secretly  conveyed), 
that,  whatever  rebellion  Monmouth  might  at- 
tempt, he  would  never  put  him  to  death. — 
'  Madame,*  answered  Father  Sanders  with 
vivacity,  *  he  did  not  put  him  to  death.'  " 

And  here,  to  conclude,  is  Saint-Foix's 
crowning  proof:  On  the  rumour  in  London, 
which  gathered  as  it  rolled,  that  an  officer  re- 
sembling Monmouth  had  been  decapitated  in 
his  stead,  a  ''grande  dame'' — not  named  to  us — 
bribed  certain  persons — not  named  to  us — to 
open   the  coffin;  and,    '*  having  looked  closely 

*  Huddleston,  the  priest  who  had  saved   Charles's  life  after  the 
battle  of  Worcester,  and  who  received  his  last  confession. 


) 


James  II. 

Prom  an  engraving  by  Claes  Visscber, 


\ 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH.      131 


% 


(i 


\ 


at    the    right    arm,    exclaimed — *  This    is    not 
Monmouth!*" 

Thus,  for  the  confusion  of  later  generations, 
were  systems  of  the  Mask  erected  towards  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This  is  the 
case,  and  the  whole  case  of  Germain- Frangois 
Poullain  de  Saint-Foix.  And  this  is  to  stand 
against  the  vouchers  of  eye-witnesses  of  Mon- 
mouth's death,  the  written  and  extant  testimony 
of  the  bishops  who  stood  with  him  on  the 
scaffold,  the  detailed  despatches  sent  by  the 
French  Ambassador  in  London  to  Louis  XIV. 
in  Paris,  the  Memoirs  of  the  age,  and  the  im- 
partial conclusions  of  history,  based  on  what  is 
described  by  Macaulay  as  ''  the  strongest  evi- 
dence by  which  the  fact  of  a  death  was  ever 
verified.'' 

But  let  Saint-Foix  not  be  dismissed  too 
coldly  from  us.  We  owe  him,  at  least,  a 
**  homage  of  amaze.''  The  callous  invention 
of  Voltaire,  the  light  deceit  of  Soulavie,  were 


132         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

certain  of  a  hearing,  and  they  have  had  it  for 
an  age;  but  we  are  dumbly  to  praise  the  forlorn 
pugnacity  of  this  ex-officer  of  cavalry,   ready 
and  eager  to  pink  the  critic  who   would   not 
be   persuaded   that   a    barber's    assistant    had 
identified   Monmouth  through    the   folds   of  a 
towel  tied  over  his  face.     For  the  purposes  of 
fiction,  by  the  way,  this  was  a  stronger  story 
than  the  legend  of  the  twin  brother  :  it  attaches 
itself    to    the    fancy — on    the    one    hand,    an 
English    peasantry    fondly    believing    in     the 
second  coming  of  an  idolised  prince  ;  on   the 
other  hand,  the  victim  ot  Sedgemoor  following 
Saint-Mars  from    one  French  dungeon  to  an- 
other, and,  after  missing  a  throne  and  escaping 
a  scaffold,  buried  in  the  murk  of  a  November 
twilight  by  two  turnkeys  of  the  Bastille.* 

On  the  evening  of  Monday,  13th  of  July, 
Monmouth  knew  that  he  was  to  die  on  Wed- 
nesday  morning.      Clarendon,    Keeper  of  the 

*  Topin. 


\\ 


i 


l! 


\ 


THE  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH,       133 

Privy  Seal,  had  visited  him  in  the  Tower,  and 
had  assured  him  that  no  hope  remained.  Two 
bishops  came  next.  Turner  of  Ely  and  Ken  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  ''  with  a  solemn  message  from 
the  King.''  Monmouth,  bloodless  and  terrqr- 
stricken,  could  not  be  brought  to  resign  ' 
himself  If  no  pardon,  might  not  a  respite  be 
obtained  .'^  The  prelates,  more  anxious  at  this 
crisis  for  his  ghostly  than  for  his  physical  wel- 
fare, exhorted  him  vainly  ;  and  were  greatly 
scandalised  by  Monmouth's  heretical  plea  of 
the  propriety,  *'in  the  sight  of  God,"  of  his 
relations  with  his  mistress.  Lady  Wentworth. 
They  left  him,  after  adjuring  him  to  spend  the 
night  in  prayer  for  spiritual  enlightenment. 

Tuesday  came  and  passed,,  bringing  neither 
pardon  nor  respite ;  and  Monmouth's  last  day 
began.  At  an  early  hour  he  parted  from  his 
wife  and  children  ;  showing,  it  is  said,  kindness 
but  no  emotion :  he  had  sunk  from  terror  to  a 
dull  despair.     Lady  Wentworth,  who,  in  a  few 


134         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

short  months,  was  to   follow   her  lover  to  the 
grave,  did  not  see  him. 

The  hour  of  ten  brought  the  coach  of  the 
lieutenant  of  the  Tower;  and  now,  with  Death's 
hand  upon  him,  Monmouth  grew  calm  and 
dignified.  At  his  request,  the  divines  who  had 
visited  him  in  the  Tower  went  with  him  to  the 
scaffold,  and  continued  to  exhort  him  to  the 
last  : — ''  God  accept  your  repentance  !  God 
accept  your  imperfect  repentance  !  "* 

Mournful  faces  thronged  about  the  scaffold, 
and  Tower  Hill  was  ''covered  up  to  the 
chimney  tops  with  an  innumerable  multitude 
of  gazers,"  weeping,  or  silently  indignant. 
Monmouth,  as  he  passed  between  the  ranks  of 
the  guards,  saluted  them  with  a  smile  ;  and  he 
mounted  the  scaffold  without  a  tremor.  The 
crowd  hungered  for  his  words,  but  he  said  very 
little,  protesting  that  he  died  *'  a  Protestant  of 
the   Church  of  England.*'     The  bishops  broke 

*  Macaulay. 


/> 


I 


The  Execution  of  Monmouth  on  Tower  Hill. 

From  a  German  Broadsheet. 


{'i 


ll 


I- 


m 


/.■t 


11 


I 


u<* 


TBI:  EXPIATION  OF  MONMOUTH.       137 

in  upon  this,  saying  that  as  a  member  of  that 
church  he  must  submit  himself  to  his  King, 
and  acknowledge  the  sinfulness  of  his  rebellion. 
Once  again  the  prelates  interfered,  when  Mon- 
mouth would  have  spoken  of  Lady  Wentworth. 
He  declared  his  sorrow  for  the  sufferings  he 
had  brought  upon  his  followers ;  then  the 
bishops  *' prayed  with  him  long  and  fervently,'* 
and  Monmouth,  after  a  troubled  pause,  added 
a  slow  ''  Amen  "  to  the  closing  prayer  for  the 
King.  Entreated  to  speak  to  the  soldiers,  ''  I 
will  make  no  speeches,"  he  exclaimed ;  and 
addressed  himself  forthwith  to  the  executioner, 
to  whom  he  gave  six  guineas,  with  injunctions 
to  despatch  him  swiftly,  and  not  to  hack  him 
''as  you  did  my  Lord  Russell.''  But  this  com- 
mand, and  possibly  also  the  long  and  painful 
scene  he  had  been  witness  of,  and  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  people  loathed  him  for  the 
dreadful  work  he  had  to  do,  unnerved  the 
headsman  utterly.      Again  and  again  the  axe 


138         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

fell  on  Monmouth  ;  the  wretched  Ketch  flung 
it  from  him,  took  it  up  again  at  the  sheriffs 
command,  and  finally  severed  the  head  from 
the  shoulders  with  a  knife,*  amid  screams  of 
rage  and  horror  from  the  crowd. 

The  vengeance  of  the  relentless  James, 
which  history,  nevertheless,  cannot  severely 
reproach,  was  satisfied.  Monmouth's  head  and 
body  were  gathered  up,  and  buried  privately 
the  same  day  under  the  communion  table  of 
St.  Peters  Chapel  in  the  Tower  of  London. 
An  abstract  of  his  speech  on  the  scaffold, 
published  by  his  partisans,  has  been  rejected 
as  spurious. 

*He  "severed  not  his  head  from  his  body  till  he  cut  it  off  with  a 
Ymitr—Verney  MSS, 


139 


f'" 


s 


% 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Between   the  years   I7S4  and   1780, 

"The  King  ^  ^  '  ^^  ^     ^' 

of  the  three  writers  in  succession  espoused 
Markets."  ^^e  cause  of  the  Due  de  Beaufort 
as  a  candidate  for  the  mask.  At  the 
respected  age  of  eighty  (for  he  was  born 
in  1674),  the  abbe  Lenglet-Dufresnoy  *  first 
advanced  this  curious  opinion,  in  his  Plan  de 
P histoire generale  et  particitliere  de  la  monarchie 
frangoise,  a  treatise  in  three  volumes  i2mo, 
published  in  1754. 

*  The  abbe,  an  ingenious  student,  had  had  the  philosopher's  full  share 
of  imprisonment  under  the  absolute  monarchy,  for  he  was  twice  con- 
fined in  the  Dungeon  of  Vincennes  and  six  times  in  the  Bastille.  It 
was,  in  the  eighteenth  century  especially,  an  approved  method  of 
recognising  distinction  in  letters  ;  and  the  abbe  did  not  complain.  Far 
from  it ;  he  always  obeyed  his  summons  with  the  greatest  alacrity, 
declaring  that  prison  was  the  best  place  in  the  world  to  work  in  ; 
packed  a  few  clean  shirts  and  his  MSS.,  and  rode  off  with  the  officer 
who  had  come  for  him. 


140         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

The  systeme  Beaufort  seems  to  have  been  the 
especial  snare  of  age,  for  Lagrange-Chancel,*  of 
the  Philippiqttes,  carried  fourscore  years  and 
three,  when,  in  1759,  in  an  article  in  Freron's 
Annee  litteraire,  he  defended  Lenglet-Du- 
fresnoy. 

The  historian  Anquetil  was  nearing  the 
seventies  when  he  lent  his  support  to  the  same 
theory  in  \i\s  Louis  XIV.,  sa  Cour  et  le  Regent, 

1789. 

Since  the  year  of  the  Revolution,  Beaufort's 
claim  has  gone  undefended.  It  shall  engage  us 
very  briefly. 

Topin  has  noted  the  slight  comparison  that 
may  be  established  between  Beaufort  and 
Monmouth.  Both  were  royal  princes,  of 
illegitimate  origin  ;  both  had  a  career  of  ad- 
venture ;  and  both  enjoyed  the  uncommon 
privilege  of  being  fatuously  loved  by  the  people. 

*  The  satirist's  experience  of  dungeons  was  inferior  to  the  abbe's 
but  he  had  been  a  prisoner  of  Sainte-Marguerite. 


''KING    OF  THE  MARKETS:' 


141 


r 


During  many  years,  the  market  people  of  Paris 
refused  as  obstinately  to  believe  in  the  death  of 
Beaufort  as  did  the  peasants  of  the  west  of 
England  in  the  death  of  Monmouth.*  Ten 
years  after  the  siege  of  Candia,  where  Beaufort 
unquestionably  lost  his  life,  the  women  of  the 
markets  were  still  having  masses  said,  not  for 
the  repose  of  his  soul,  but  for  the  prompt  return 
of  the  man  himself.f  These  persistent  doubts, 
which,  passing  lightly  over  the  necessity  of 
proof,  are  always  so  easily  propagated,  have 
sufficed  to  place  Beaufort  at  one  era  and 
Monmouth  at  another  under  the  mask  of 
Saint-Mars's  perplexing  prisoner.     The  points 

*  These  superstitions  of  the  people  are  not  peculiar  to  any  age  or 
country.  The  death  of  Mr.  Charles  Stuart  Parnell  is,  I  should  sup- 
pose, pretty  well  attested ;  yet  there  are  those  in  Ireland  who  declare 
that  the  lost  leader  lives  and  will  re-appear.  Nay,  by  some  it  is 
maintained  that  he  has  re-appeared — and  in  a  character  somewhat 
plaguing  to  our  fighting-men.  Has  he  not  been  identified  in  print 
with  that  elusive  De  Wet  of  the  Boer  War  who  (at  the  time  of 
writing)  is  leading  our  Generals  such  a  dance  among  the  mountains 
and  passes  of  South  Africa  ! 

t  Topin  ! 


142         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

of  resemblance  cease  here :  the  characters  of 
the  two  men  were  totally  dissimilar. 

Monmouth  breathed  the  air  of  Courts  as  a 
prince  should  do.  Beaufort,  not  less  a  prince, 
floundered  like  a  clown  in  the  royal  circle — the 
Tony  Lumpkin  of  Versailles.  Grandson  of 
Henri  IV.  and  Gabrielle  d^Estrees  (his  father 
was  Cesar  de  Vendome),  Beaufort  came  up 
from  the  country  to  the  Court,  a  raw,  handsome 
braggart,  with  one  hand  incessantly  on  his  hip, 
and  the  other  twirling  up  his  moustaches  ;  his 
conversation  a  ludicrous  failure  to  mix  the  slang 
of  the  stable  and  the  hunting-field,  which  was 
his  proper  language,  with  the  jargon  of  the 
elegants,  which  was  exotic  to  him.  He  got  so 
far  as  to  introduce  a  vocabulary  of  his  own, 
which  had  no  imitators,  and  which  Cardinal  de 
Retz  declared  would  have  melted  Cato  into  tears. 
But  the  stentorian,  lubberly  Duke  had  his 
revenge  at  the  wars,  where  his  idiosyncrasies 
were  '*  not  noticed   in  him  "  ;  and   he  returned 


<c 


KING    OF  THE  MARKET Sr 


'43 


from  Arras  with  a  reputation  for  prowess  in  the 
field  which  rallied  around  him  the  courtiers  by 
whom  he  had  before  been  flouted. 

Indeed,   he    was   presently    in    the    way  to 
become  a  strong  man  in  the  kingdom  ;  for,  on 
the  eve  of  the  death   of  Louis  XIII.,  we  find 
Anne  of  Austria  desirous  of  making  him  the 
guardian  of  her  son,  as  "  the   most  honest  man 
in    France.''     It  was  not  a  sagacious  choice,  for 
*'  the  most  honest  man  "  was  in  truth  one  of  the 
vainest,  most  unstable,  and  most  incompetent. 
In   no  long  time  he  is   observed  talking  very 
loudly  in  the  rebellious  ranks  of  the  Fronde, 
leader  of  the    ridiculous   party  whose    preten- 
sions obtained   for  them  the  nickname  of  Les 
Importants,     A   truculent,  inglorious  figure  in 
the  Fronde,  he  gave  trouble  enough  to  Mazarin 
to  make  it  worth  the  minister's  while  to  arrest 
him  ;  he  was  confined  for  a  time  in  the  State 
prison  of  Vincennes,  and  the  Importants  were 
dispersed. 


144        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

But  Beaufort,  for  all  his  ambition,  had  no 
singleness  or  fixity  of  purpose ;  he  severed  the 
ties  of  party  as  easily  as  he  formed  them,  and 
the  Fronde  knew  him  no  more.  After  a 
period  of  idle  opposition  to  the  young  king,  he 
was  sent  into  banishment ;  and  returned  to  be 
reconciled  to  his  old  enemy,  Mazarin.  At  no 
time  was  Beaufort  a  political  adversary  to  be 
very  seriously  reckoned  with.  He  had  no 
real  knowledge  of  affairs  ;  he  could  act  violently 
at  any  time,  but  with  judgment  at  no  time  ;  and, 
wanting  the  ability  to  choose  a  course  for 
himself  in  politics,  he  was  pushed  into  one 
course  and  another  by  those  whom  he  fancied 
he  was  leading  by  the  ear. 

Outside  the  sphere  of  the  populace  of  Paris 
— indeed,  it  was  narrower ;  it  was  the  sphere 
of  the  markets — Beaufort  did  not  possess  the 
slightest  influence  ;  and  his  authority  over  these 
people,  whom  he  bullied  and  joked  with  in 
their  own  argot,  was    much    more    that    of    a 


* 

i 


K 


"KING   OF  THE  MARKETS. 


ii 


MS 


popular  hero  than  of  a  political  leader.  He 
called  the  market  people  his  subjects,  and  they 
in  return  dubbed  him  their  king :  he  was  the 
Km£^  of  the  Markets.  The  porters  and  fish- 
wives followed  him  in  the  streets,  proud  beyond 
measure  of  their  deb'onnaire  prince,  who  had 
condescended  to  choose  his  town  house  in  the 
most  populous  quarter  of  Paris,*  who  would 
mount  on  a  stone  to  hold  an  argument,  or  show 
off  his  strength  in  a  public  brawl. 

On  a  sudden,  however,  the  factious  Beaufort 
ranged  himself  and  grew  submissive.  In  1663, 
being  then  at  the  sane  age  of  forty-seven,  he 
received  an  appointment  as  Admiral,  in 
succession  to  his  father.  Lagrange-Chancel 
would  have  his  readers  believe  that  Beaufort 
made  use  of  this  office  to  traverse  the  designs 
of  Colbert,  controlling  the  navy  ;  but  this  proves 
quite  inexact.  The  opposition  to  the  throne 
was    exhausted    at    this    time;     the    passions 


Rue  Quincampoix. 


10 


/, 


146         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

kindled  during  the  Fronde  were  extinguished ; 
submission   to  authority    had    become    or   was 
becoming  the  poHcy  of  those  princes  and  nobles 
erstwhile    the    most    restless    and    intractable. 
**  The  Prince  de   Conti    married  the  niece   of 
Mazarin  ;  the  great  Conde  received  from  the 
King  with  gratitude  the   Order  of  the   Saint- 
Esprit'';    and    Beaufort,    transformed    into   an 
Admiral,    grew    mild    and    malleable.     On  the 
quarter-deck,     it      is      true,     he     swore     and 
swaggered  as  of  old,  and  was  quite  the  pirate 
in  the  treatment  of  his  officers,  whom  he  was 
for    ever  threatening   to    pitch   into    the    sea ; 
but   in  his  naval  expeditions  he  endured  cheer- 
fully  and    with    docility    the    authority    of  the 
expert  whom  Colbert  had  placed  beside  him."^ 
It   was    his    subordinates    only    who    felt    the 
natural   violence    of   his    character  ;  the  Court 
had    nothinof    to    fear    from    him.     Far   from 
choosing  even  to   pretend  himself  dangerous, 

*  Relation  de  Gigdryfaite  au  Roi  par  M.  de  Gadagne,  lietttenant-^Jnerai. 


w 


'  )J 


\ 


\COJS  JyEVhNDO, 


Due  At  Beaufort  Pair  dc  France.  Poi 


Francis  de  Vendome,  "  Roi  des  Haiies." 

From  a  contemporary  print. 


^ 


i 


"KING    OF  THE  MARKETS." 


149 


•  I 


\ 


). 


W 


Beaufort  had  gone  over,  with  characteristic 
ostentation,  to  the  side  of  the  young  King  and 
his  advisers  ;  and  had  he  pretended  danger, 
his  gifts  as  a  conspirator  were  too  mediocre 
to  excite  alarm.  At  his  proudest  and  most 
powerful,  he  was  no  more  than  the  King  of  the 
Markets — le  Roi  des  Halles. 

The  hypothesis  which  lifts  Beaufort  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Iron  Mask  rests  on  the 
assumption  that  his  popularity  threatened  the 
safety  of  the  State.  He  was  given,  in  1669, 
the  command  of  the  expedition  to  Candia,  to 
the  end,  it  was  said,  that  he  should  return 
no  more.  He  did  not,  it  was  said,  die  at 
Candia,  as  history  has  affirmed :  from  the 
midst  of  the  fleet,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
army,  he  was  adroitly  whisked  away,  and 
conveyed  into  the  keeping  of  Saint-Mars,  at 
Sainte-Marguerite.  This  is  the  story  as  we 
have  it  from  Lenglet-Dufresnoy,  Lagrange- 
Chancel,     and    Anquetil — three    savants    who 


1  so        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

f 

took  the  field  at  an  age  not  usually  nimble 
in  critical  speculation  or  research.  If,  however, 
the  facts  brought  forward  as  to  Beaufort's 
popularity  (considered  as  a  source  of  danger  to 
the  State)  possess  any  value,  Louis  XIV.,  it 
is  clear,  had  not  a  reason  in  the  world  for 
ridding  himself  of  the  Duke.  But  Beaufort 
did  certainly  disappear  at  the  siege  of  Candia. 
Was  he  killed  there,  or  was  he  carried  thence 
into  captivity  ?  We  have  no  proof  whatever 
that  he  was  carried  away.  Have  we,  then,  the 
proofs  of  his  death  ? 

On  the  5th  of  June,  1669,  the  expedition 
for  the  relief  of  Candia,  besieged  by  the 
Turks,  set  out  from  Toulon,  with  Beaufort 
in  command  ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
19th  the  western  point  of  the  island  was 
sighted.  In  the  evening,  under  cover  of 
darkness,  Beaufort,  with  Navailles  (general 
of  the  7,000  French  troops  who  had  sailed 
with      the       fleet),      made      for      the      shore 


''KING   OF  THE  MARKETS^ 


151 


i 


i 


with  muffled  oars,  and  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing the  port.  They  soon  convinced  them- 
selves of  the  desperate  condition  of  the 
Venetian  defenders  of  the  place.  In  fact, 
of  the  14,000  whom  the  ambassador  of  the 
Venetian  Republic  had  reported  to  be  within 
the  walls,  there  were  not  above  6,000  who 
could  be  relied  upon  as  combatants  ;  and 
most  of  these  had  lost  heart  during  a  defence 
which  was  now  regarded  as  hopeless. 

A  council  of  war  was  held  on  the  20th, 
when  Beaufort,  Navailles,  the  Captain-General 
of  the  Venetians,  and  the  other  officers  who 
took  part  in  it,  were  unanimously  agreed 
that  a  resolute  sortie  offered  the  sole  pros- 
pect of  success.  The  final  plan  of  this  was 
settled  on  the  evening  of  the  24th,  arid  its 
execution  resolved  upon  for  midnight  of  the 
25th.  By  that  hour,  the  whole  of  the 
French  troops  had  been  safely  brought  on 
shore.       The   one   hope   lay   in   taking   com- 


152         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

pletely  by  surprise  the  swarming  legions  of 
the  Turks.  The  troops  of  the  Venetians, 
useless  at  present  within  their  bastions,  were 
not  advised  of  the  project  of  attack  until 
one  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  26th, 
when,  roused  from  sleep  by  their  officers, 
they  were  hurried  in  silence  to  their  posts. 

The  French  foot  were  marshalled  on  the 
esplanade,  where  as  the  hour  of  two  sounded 
from  the  church  of  Saint-Marc,  they  were 
joined  by  two  hundred  of  the  King's 
musketeers  and  five  companies  of  cavalry. 
Navailles  and  his  men  moved  off  towards 
the  right,  Beaufort  directing  his  march 
upon  the  left :  the  two  corps  were  to  re-unite 
at  a  signal  given  by  Navailles.  Arrived 
within  a  little  space  of  the  enemy,  Beaufort 
made  his  troops  lie  down  ;  while  Navailles, 
who  had  a  larger  distance  to  cover,  con- 
tinued his  stealthy  advance.  Some  fifty 
minutes   before    the  dawn,   the  drums   of  the 


''KING   OF  THE  MARKETS:' 


153 


Turks  startled  the  silence  ;  but  a  few  of 
Beaufort's  marines,  creeping  up  to  the  camp, 
returned  to  say  that  the  enemy  were  merely 
beating  the  reveille,  and  were  still  in  total 
ignorance  of  their  danger 

Navailles  had  got  unimpeded  to  the  ex- 
treme right,  where  he  halted  until  his  reserve 
and  the  rear  guard  had  come  up.  Beaufort, 
with  growing  impatience,  was  waiting  for 
the  signal,  when,  suddenly,  a  roar  of  mus- 
ketry burst  from  the  distant  right,  and  the 
red  fire  glowed  over  the  camp  of  the  Turks. 
In  an  instant,  Beaufort  was  on  his  feet,  his 
men  with  him  ;  the  charge  was  sounded  ;  and, 
while  the  day  had  not  yet  dawned,  the  troops 
leaped  blindly  to  the  assault.  The  Turkish  en- 
trenchments were  almost  immediately  stormed  ; 
the  Turks,  panic-stricken,  fired  off  their  pieces 
and  fled,  many  casting  themselves  headlong 
into  the  sea.  It  seemed  as  though  victory  were 
already  with  the  French  ;  but  just  then  a  vast 


154         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

sheet  of  flame  reared  itself  into  the  night,  and 
a  terrifying  explosion  shook  the  field.  Beau- 
fort's troops  and  marines,  not  knowing  what 
had  happened,  halted  in  alarm  ;  and  scarcely 
obeyed  the  rallying  voice  of  their  leader. 

Far  other  were  the  effects  which  that 
catastrophe  had  produced  among  the  soldiers 
of  Dampierre,  who  headed  the  detachment 
commanded  by  Navailles.  A.  magazine  con- 
taining twenty-five  thousand-weight  of  powder 
had  exploded,  swallowing  an  entire  battalion 
of  the  French  guards,  and  spreading  panic 
on  every  side.  The  troops,  persuaded  that 
the  whole  field  was  sown  with  mines,  threw 
away  their  arms,  and  ran  in  all  direc- 
tions. In  the  semi-darkness  of  that  hour 
'twixt  night  and  morning,  Beaufort's  marines, 
meeting  the  flying  troops  of  Dampierre  and 
Navailles,  fell  on  them  as  foes ;  and  an  indis- 
criminate and  indescribable  slaughter  began. 
In    vain     did    Beaufort,    himself    abandoned, 


[/ 


^'  KING   OF  THE  MARKETS:' 


'55 


essay  to  undo  that  fatal  error.  Covered  with 
blood,  his  horse  wounded,  he  threw  himself 
amid  the  terrified  Frenchmen,  crying:  **A  moi, 
mes  enfants  !  Je  suis  votre  amiral.  Ralliez- 
vous  pres  de  moi ! "  Brave,  but  futile  effort  \ 
The  dawn  was  growing,  and  the  Turks  realised 
that  they  were  not  pursued.  Recovering  their 
ranks  as  quickly  as  they  had  broken  them 
they  became  in  their  turn  the  assailants ;  and, 
shouting  the  Prophet's  name,  they  chased  the 
French  to  the  gates  of  Candia. 

Under  shelter  of  the  ramparts,  the  French 
took  a  breathing  space,  and  roughly  summed 
their  losses.  Beaufort  was  missing.  His 
death  was  considered  certain  by  the  army. 
He  had  been  seen  last,  streaked  with  blood, 
and  galloping  on  a  wounded  horse  through 
that  dense  melee  in  which  Frenchmen  were 
killing  Frenchmen  as  Turks.  Any  French- 
man who  died  obscurely  on  that  half-lighted 
field   might    easily    have   been   posed    by   his 


156        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

partisans    as    the    hero    of    a    mystery.     But 
no  one  raises  a  hint  of  foul  play  in  the  case 
of  Beaufort.     The  first  despatch  that   reaches 
Colbert,      from      his      brother      Colbert      de 
Maulevrier,  signalises  Beaufort's  death  as  the 
most   deplorable    result    of  the   battle.*     And 
the   army   was    not   satisfied    with    the   know- 
ledge    that     the     leader     of    the     expedition 
was    missing.      Was     it    possible    the    Turks 
had    taken    him  ?     A    white    flag    was    sent 
into  the   Turkish  lines,   but  Beaufort  was   not 
among   the   prisoners.     It   was  then  held    for 
certain    that    he    had    fallen,    an    easy    mark 
on    horseback,    among    the    lost    files    of   the 
French    whose   death   was    never   questioned  ; 
and    not    a    hint    or    a    line    that    has    come 
down  to  posterity  has  disturbed   this  belief. 

The    dates    alone     should    suffice    to     dis- 
prove   the    case    of    Lenglet-Dufresnoy    and 

*  Maniiscrits  de  la  Bibliotheqtu  impiriale^  papiers  Colbert  :  cited  by 
Topin. 


''KING   OF  THE  markets:' 


157 


his  two  adherents.  Was  the  Man  in  the 
Mask  a  nonagenarian  ?  .  Beaufort  was  born 
in  16 1 6,  and  the  prisoner  of  Saint-Mars 
died  in  the  Bastille  in  1703.  And  how 
does  Saint-Mars  receive  Beaufort  a  prisoner 
at  Sainte-Marguerite  in  1669 — eighteen  years 
before  he  goes  to  that  fortress  ? 


^58 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Endless    indeed   has   been  the   per- 

The  Tragedy . 

oi  Nicolas  verse  ingenuity  of  writers  on  the 
'^«"^"^^-  subject  of  the  Iron  Mask.  That 
Nicolas  Fouquet,  Louis  XIV.'s  overweening 
Superintendent  of  Finance,  died  at  Pignerol, 
March  23,  1680,  is  an  historical  fact  which 
does  not  admit  of  question  or  of  doubt  ; 
yet  Paul  Lacroix  (the  bibliophile  Jacob,  a 
voluminous  and  entertaining  author),  not  con- 
tent  with  the  nineteen  years  of  captivity 
which  fate  decreed  the  afflicted  Surintendant, 
sentenced  him  to  twenty-three  more  as  the 
Man  in  the  Iron  Mask. 

Not   that   this  folly  was  quite   original   with 
the    bibliophile.       It    glimmered    first    in    an 


I 


i  TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET,      159 

article  published,  in  1789,  in  a  journal  called 
Loisirs  d'un  patriate  frangais ;  republished 
afterwards  as  a  pamphlet,  and  sold  to  a 
confiding  public  under  the  title,  L' Homme  au 
masque  de  fer,  dcvoile  dapres  line  note 
troiivee  dans  les  papie7's  de  la  Bastille,  The 
remarkable  "  note  found  among  the  papers 
of  the  Bastille  "  has  long  gone  to  keep  com- 
pany with  the  legend  of  the  silver  plate 
and  the  linen  shirt  ;  for  neither  Paul  Lacroix 
nor  anyone  else  succeeded  in  proving  its 
existence,  and  the  bibliophile  prudently 
abstains  from  giving  it  a  place  of  honour 
among  his  documents.  Here  it  is,  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  curious : — Fouquet, 
arriving  from  the  Isles  of  Sainte- Marguerite 
in  an  iron  mask.  The  note  carried  the 
good  round  number,  64,389,000,  and  a  double 
signature — the  letters  XXX  superposed 
on  the  name  Kersadiou.  The  author  of  the 
jest   elected  to  remain  in  an    obscurity  which 


1 


i6o 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


is  and  always  has  been  destitute  of  interest. 
The  erudition  and  inexhaustible  versatility  of 
Lacroix,  from  whose  pen  we  have  a  little 
library  of  volumes  on  the  curiosities  of  French 
history,  were  idly  and  unworthily  employed  in 
reviving,  in  1840,"^  a  fable  which  had  died  in 
the  hour  of  its  birth,  sixty  years  earlier. 

The  downfall,  degradation,  punishment,  and 
death  of  Fouquet  make  an  episode  as  striking 
and  poignant  as  any  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV. 
He  was  at  his  height  of  power,  the  most  daz- 
zling figure  at  the  Court,  just  when  the  King,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three,  had  resolved  to  rule 
France  alone.  At  the  first  Council  he  held 
after  the  death  of  Mazarin,  Louis  had  said : 
**  I  shall  be  my  own  Prime  Minister  in 
future  *' ;  f  and  the  Court,  incredulous  at  first, 
soon  realised  that  the  King  meant  to  keep 
his   word.     Already  devoted    to   pleasure   and 

*  VHotnme  an  masque  defer.  (Paris,  Mayen,  1840,  in  8vo). 
t  **yi?  serai  a  ravenir  mon  premier  miuistre.^"^ 


{ 


TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET      i6i 

the   chase,    he   began    now    to   show    himself 

energetic  and  vigorous   in    affairs  ;    and   from 

this   time    forward,    during   the    ensuing    fifty 

years,    he    devoted   five   hours   a   day   to   the 

business   of  the   State.      So  long  as   Fouquet 

was  indispensable,   Louis  retained  him    in  his 

post  ;    and   that   over-confident,    rash    minister 

promised  himself  the   Chancellorship  and  the 

real  government  of  France.      But,  though  he 

would  not  see  it,  and  was  deaf  to  the  warnings 

that    reached    him,    Fouquet    was    very    soon 

upon  the  brink  of  ruin.     The  fortune  he  had 

amassed    out   of  the    taxes   was   probably   at 

this    time   the   most   considerable   in    France. 

Colbert,    however    (Fouquet's    arch    enemy), 

conveyed  to  the  King  the  secret  of  a  hoard  of 

nearly  eighteen  millions  of  ready  money,  left 

by  Mazarin.     Search  was  made  and  the  money 

found ;    and    Louis,    independent   of    Fouquet 

from  that  moment,  resolved  forthwith  upon  his 

overthrow.     Along  with   the   King's   incense- 

II 


1 62         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

ment  went  a  certain  fear  of  the  dazzling  and 
fascinating  minister,  who  was  capable,  as  Louis 
imagined,  of  impeding  if  not  of  thwarting  his 
schemes  for  the  government  of  France  after  his 
own  manner.     During  a  summer  of  splendid 
fetes  at  Fontainebleau,  to  which  the  opulence 
of  Fouquet  contributed,   the  plot  against  him 
was  elaborated    by   Louis,    whose   natural  gift 
of  dissimulation  had  ripened    under  Mazarin's 
tuition.      Had    Fouquet  been  merely  Superin- 
tendent   of     Finance,    he    could     have    been 
attacked    and     destroyed      at     once ;    but    as 
Procureur- General  he   enjoyed  the   protection 
of  the    Parlement.       The    King   and    Colbert 
had    recourse    to   a   stratagem    to    induce   him 
to    resign    his    office    of    Procureur-General ; 
he  did  so,  or   rather  he  sold   the  office  ;  and 
Louis  exclaimed   exultingly  :  ''  Tout   va  bien  ; 
il  senterre  de  lui-meme!"*     Stripped  of  the 
shield    of  the   Parlement,   Fouquet  was  at  the 


*  **  Good  !  He's  digging  his  own  grave. 


1 J 


TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET      163 

King's  mercy,  and  on  the  5th  of  September. 
1 66 1,  the  blow  fell.  He  was  arrested  in  the 
Place  de  la  Cathedrale  at  Nantes,  whither  Louis 
had  gone  to  meet  the  Estates  of  Brittany. 

''  The  formation  of  a  special  court  to  try 
him,  the  length  of  his  trial,  which  lasted  three 
years,  the  obvious  falseness  of  most  of  the 
charges,  the  influence  exercised  by  Louis  over 
the  judges,  the  courage  and  ability  shown  by 
the  prisoner,  his  intimate  relations  with  all 
the  ablest  men  of  the  day,  his  numerous  and 
varied  interests,  all  combined  to  focus  the 
interest  and  the  sympathy  of  France  upon 
Nicolas  Fouquet"  * 

Sympathy  rose  higher  when  it  became 
evident  that  Louis  had  determined  to  ob- 
tain a  conviction  at  any  cost.  It  was  **a 
seventeenth-century  Warren  Hastings  trial." 
Fouquet  was  accused  of  ''  corruption  and 
dishonesty  in  the  management  of  the  finances, 


•  Hassall's  **  Louis  XIV." 


II 


* 


i64         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

of  appropriating  to   himself  public  money,  of 
preparing  to  revive  civil  war  in  France,   and 
for  that  purpose  of  fortifying  Belle-isle/'     The 
accusation   of  treason   was  ridiculous,    but  the 
charges    of    malversation    were    easily    estab- 
lished.    The  truth  is  that,  with  rare  intervals 
of  sound  administration,   the    financial    system 
was  rotten  and  immoral  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  the   monarchy,   and    later.      Mazarin 
might  have  been  impeached  on  this  count  as 
justly    as    Fouquet,    who   was    not    more    un- 
scrupulous  than  the   majority    of  his    contem- 
poraries in  the  handling  of  public  money.      But 
Fouquet    fell,    as    Louis    intended    he    should 
fall.     Nor  was    it    enough   for   Louis   to   have 
broken     and    dishonoured    him  :    the    King's 
'  treatment   of    the    sentence    decreed    by    the 
judges  was  an  anticipation  of  the  chastisement 
with    which,   eighteen    years   later,    he   was   to 
visit   the    Iron    Mask.      The  judges    were   in 
favour   of  banishment  ;    but    the  young    sove- 


)J 


TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET      165 

reign,  just  entering  upon  the  splendid  heritage 
of  France,  holding  in  his  hands  a  power 
tremendous  enough  to  inspire  generosity,  and 
at  an  age  when  the  hey-day  in  the  blood 
should  cry  pity  upon  all  misfortune,  deliberately 
changed  the  sentence  into  one  of  perpetual 
imprisonment.  Fouquet  the  magnificent, 
whose  lordly  motto  had  been.  Quo  non 
Ascendain  /  Whither  may  I  not  mount ! 
sank  into  the  shades  of  a  dungeon.  Once 
lodged  in  Pignerol,  he  never  quitted  it. 

The  system  of  Lacroix  rests  almost  entirely 
on  the  assumption — a  perfectly  gratuitous  one 
— that  Fouquet's  death  at  Pignerol  was 
simulated.  Thus,  after  leaving  his  victim  in 
prison  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  after 
having,  towards  the  close  of  that  period, 
eased  his  bonds  considerably,  Louis,  for  some 
cryptic  reason  which  history  has  not  pene- 
trated to  this  day,  suddenly  gives  him  out 
as  dead,   separates  him   from    the   rest  of  the 


/ 


i66 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


world,  binds  a  mask  over  his  features,  and 
holds  him  in  this  double  captivity  twenty- 
three  years  longer.  The  death  of  Fouquet 
in  1680,  says  Lacroix,  ''is  far  from  being 
certain."     Let  us  see. 

And  first  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
captivity  of  Fouquet  was  for  many  years  an 
extremely  rigorous  one.  He  endured  it  with 
great  fortitude,  spending  much  time  in  the 
study  of  works  of  devotion,  and  committing 
his  thoughts  to  paper  when  he  could  get 
leave  to  write.  Between  the  years  1665  and 
1672,  says  Topin,  all  communication  with 
the '  outer  world  was  forbidden  him ;  he 
might  not  even  send  a  message  to  his  family. 
All  at  once  the  King  begins  to  soften  a  little. 
At  first,  in  1672,  a  rare  letter  is  permitted  ; 
then  a  more  regular  correspondence,  and 
freedom  of  intercourse  with  other  captives 
and  inmates  of  the  fortress  ;  finally,  there  is 
the  visit   and   prolonged  stay   at    Pignerol    of 


t 


Nicolas  Fouquet. 
Prom  an  engraving  by  C,  Mel  Ian. 


TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET.      169 


certain  members  of  Fouquet's  family.  The 
despatches  are  open. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1679,  the  minister 
Louvois  wrote  to  Saint-Mars  : — 

**  His  Majesty  is  quite  willing  [trouve  bon] 
that  M.  Fouquet  and  M.  de  Lauzun  *  should 
see  each  other  as  often  as  they  please.  They 
may,  if  they  choose,  pass  the  day  together, 
and  take  their  meals  together.  You  are  at 
liberty  to  join  them.  They  may  have  leave 
to  exercise  at  all  times,  not  only  within  the 
limits  of  the  dungeon,  but  in  any  part  of  the 
citadel.  You  can  take  them  to  dine  with 
Madame  de  Saint-Mars  as  often  as  you  like, 
even  when  strangers  or  officers  of  the  town 
are  present  ....  His  Majesty  accords 
permission  to  the  officers  of  the  citadel  to 
visit    your   prisoners   and    pass    the    morning 

*  De  Lauzun,  a  captain  in  the  King's  guards,  the  hero  of  many 
extraordinary  adventures,  and  one  of  the  most  impudent  little  cox- 
combs in  France,  was  ten  years  in  prison  at  Pignerol.  He  had  already 
had  a  taste  of  the  Bastille,  for  an  insolent  speech  to  Louis  XIV. 


lyo         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

or  afternoon  with  them,  should  they  wish  it, 
one    of     your     own    officers    being     present. 

With   regard    to    the    governor 

and  residents  of  the  town,  you  will  act  as  you 
think  proper  in  respect  of  visits  to  be  paid 
by  them/' 

Still  more  important  and  explicit  is  the 
minister's  letter  of  the   loth  of  May  : — 

''  The  King,  having  granted  permission  to 
Madame  Fouquet,  her  children,  and  M. 
Fouquet  of  Mezieres,*  to  visit  M.  Fouquet 
at  Pignerol,  I  have  his  Majesty's  command  to 
advise  you  of  the  same,  and  further  to  inform 
you  that  Madame  Fouquet  is  to  have  the 
fullest  liberty  of  intercourse  with  her  husband, 
and  even,  should  she  desire  it,  to  take  up  her 
residence  in  M.  Fouquet's  apartment.  As 
regards  the  children  and  M.  Fouquet's 
brother,  his  Majesty  desires  that  they  may 
be  with  him  as   much  as  they  please,  without 

*  Fouquet 's  brother. 


f 


(1 


TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET      171 

the  presence  of  any  of  your  officers.  The 
same  liberty  is  to  be  accorded  to  Salvert, 
Madame  Fouquet's  man  of  business.  You 
may  give  leave  also  to  the  senior  officers  of 
the  town  garrison  and  of  the  citadel  to  visit 
your  prisoners." 

In  the  month  of  June,  Louvois  authorises 
the  visit  of  certain  ''  dames  de  qualite  " 
of  Turin.  In  November  he  permits  another 
brother  of  Fouquet  to  take  up  his  residence 
at  Pignerol  for  twenty-four  months,  and  to  see 
the  prisoner  ''  as  often  as  he  pleases  during 
that  period." 

Lastly,  on  the  i8th  of  December,  Fouquet's 
daughter  has  leave  to  lodge  in  the  dungeon 
itself,  in  a  chamber  divided  only  by  the  dis- 
tance of  a  single  step  from  her  father's. 

And  it  is  in  these  circumstances,  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  a  numerous  family — 
under  the  very  eyes,  we  may  say,  of  a  wife, 
a   son,   a    daughter,    and    two    brothers — with 


/ 


172         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

Madame's  man  of  affairs  at  hand,  with 
officers  and  people  of  the  town  and  garrison 
coming  and  going  as  they  Hst,  that  Paul 
Lacroix  has  the  temerity  to  speak  of  a 
simulated  death  of  Fouquet,  the  23rd  of  March, 
1680!  The  time  was  not  exactly  in  joint  for 
a  plot  of  that  sort.  Is  it  a  schemer  so  astute 
as  Louis  XIV.  (at  this  date  forty-two  years  of 
age)  who  sends  Fouquet's  whole  family  to  join 
him  at  Pignerol,  gives  his  wife  leave  to  share 

a 

his  chamber,  lodges  his  daughter  within  a 
brick  of  him,  and  throws  the  prisoner's  doors 
open  to  any  visitors  he  may  choose  to 
receive,  at  the  precise  hour  when  his  Majesty 
IS  planning  to  report  him  dead,  and  to  thrust 
him  thereupon  into  greater  secrecy  than  ever  ? 
It  is  childish.  And  for  what  reason,  this 
pretended  death  and  this  prolongation  of 
Fouquet's  captivity  by  three-and-twenty  years  ? 
The  bibliophile  whispers  us  of  some  secret  of 
State   of  which   Fouquet  is   the  dreaded  pos- 


L 


i 


( 


.JLm 


TEA GED y  OF  NICOLAS  FO UQUET.      173 

sessor.  So !  And  this  prisoner  with  the  un- 
speakable secret  is  suddenly  given  the  liberty 
of  the  citadel,  he  is  set  in  the  midst  of  his 
family,  he  is  suffered,  nay  almost  invited, 
to  blab  it  in  the  ears  of  all  the  gossips  of 
Pignerol  who  may  come  and  call  on  him  and 
stay  to  dinner  just  as  often  as  he  has  a  mind 
to  company  ?  M.  Lacroix,  this  was  '  rating 
rather  cheaply  the  intellects  of  Louis  XIV. ! 

But  the  case  against  the  bibliophile  is  not 
quite  finished.  Other  documents  of  State, 
together  with  letters  of  the  family,  allow  us 
to  follow  Fouquet  for  a  space  after  his  death 
from  apoplexy  on  the  23rd  of  March,  1680. 
Saint-Mars  sent  immediately  to  Louvois.  The 
family  of  Fouquet  communicated  the  tidings 
to  their  friends,  and  wrote  to  the  minister 
soliciting  the  King's  permission  to  lay  him 
in  their  vault  in  Paris.  Madame  de  S^vigne 
writes  to  her  daughter  on  the  3rd  of  April  : 
"  Poor    M.    Fouquet    is    dead  ;    I    am    very 


\i 


-V 


•  / 


174         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

sorry."  And  on  the  5th,  ''  If  I  were  in  the 
counsels  of  M.  Fouquet's  family,  I  would  see 
that  they  did  not  send  his  poor  body  on  a 
journey,  as  I  hear  they  propose  to  do." 
On  the  6th  of  April,  the  Gazette  de  France 
makes  the  following  announcement  :  '*  We 
learn  from  Pignerol  that  the  sieur  Fouquet 
has  died  there  from  apoplexy.'' 

On  the  8th  of  the  month  Louvois  replied 
to  Saint-Mars,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  in- 
formed the  King  of  Fouquet's  death,  and  that 
the  King  wished  Fouquet's  chamber  to  be 
prepared  for  Lauzun.  His  Majesty  sends 
no  message  of  regret.  On  the  same  day 
the  Minister  wrote  to  Fouquet's  son,  the 
Comte  de  Vaux  : — 


''  Monsieur, — 

''  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  the  29th  of  last  month.  I  have  spoken 
to  the   King    concerning  the  request   of  your 


\ 


I 


TRAGEDY   OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET.      175 

mother  to  remove  the  body  of  the  late  M. 
Fouquet  from  Pignerol.  Rest  assured  there 
will  be  no  difficulty  about  that  ;  his  Majesty 
has  given   the  necessary  orders." 

At  the  same  time  Saint-Mars  received  his 
instructions : — 

**  The  King  commands  me  to  inform  you 
that  his  Majesty  consents  to  your  delivery 
of  the  body  of  the  late  M.  Fouquet  to  his 
widow,  to  be  transported  whither  it  may 
please  her." 

The  family  possessed  a  vault  in  the  chapel 
of  Saint-Francois  de  Sales,  in  the  church  of 
the  convent  of  the  Dames  de  Sainte- Marie, 
grande  rue  Saint-Antoine,  Paris  ;  but  it  was 
not  until  the  23rd  of  March  of  the  year 
following,  1 68 1,  that  the  body  of  Fouquet 
was  carried  and  deposited  there.  In  the 
**  registres  mortuaires  "  of  the  church  the 
record  may  be   read  : — 


( 


,1 


; 


.  m 


T        / 


176         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

"  Le  23  Mars  1681,  fut  inhume  dans 
notre  eglise,  en  la  chapelle  de  Saint-Fran- 
gois  de  Sales,  messire  Nicolas  Foucquet,  qui 
fut  eleve  a  tous  les  degres  d'honneur  de  la 
magistrature,  conseiller  au  parlement,  maitre 
des  requestres,  procureur  general,  surintendant 
des  finances,  et  ministre  d'Estat." 

Thus  humbly,  by  leave  of  the  King,  whose 
anger  had  undone  and  destroyed  him,  was 
Fouquet  the  magnificent  inurned  in  the 
church  of  the  Ladies  of  Saint  Mary,  along- 
side the  dust  of  his  father. 

The  principal  hypotheses— most  of  them, 
as  the  reader  has  perceived,  mere  ''  springes 
to  catch  woodcocks  '' — have  now  been  sub- 
mitted to  analysis.  Francois  Ravaisson, 
keeper  of  the  Arsenal  Library,  whose  task  of 
classifying  the  Archives  of  the  Bastille  has 
since  his  death  been  continued  by  M. 
Funck-Brentano,    ''  believed    for    a    moment " 


\ 


i) 


TRAGEDY  OF  NICOLAS  FOUQUET,       177 

(says  his  successor)  ''  that  the  celebrated 
prisoner  might  have  been  the  young  Count 
de  K6roualze  who  had  fought  at  Candia 
under  the  orders  of  Admiral  de  Beaufort. 
Ravaisson  put  forth  his  theory  with  much 
hesitation,  and  as,  in  the  sequel,  he  was  him- 
self led  to  abandon  it,  we  need  not  dwell 
any  longer  upon  it.'' 

M.  Jules  Loiseleur,  in  his  charming  series 
of  Problemes  historiques  (1867)  argued  with 
force  and  brilliancy  in  behalf  of  a  certain 
'*  prisonnier  mysterieux  "  arrested  by  Catinat 
in  1 68 1.  Marius  Topin  put  Loiseleur  out  of 
court  and  countenance  ''  by  discovering 
Catinat  in  the  very  prisoner  he  was  said  to 
have  arrested  !  '' 

General  lung  wrote  a  big  and  very  in- 
teresting book  *  in  support  of  the  claims 
of  one    Louis   de   Oldendorf  (known  also    as 

*  La  Verite  sur  le  Masque  de  Per,     (Les  Euipoisonneurs).      Paris  : 
H.  Plon,  1873. 

12 


/ 


y 


( 


178 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


Lefroid,  de  Kiffenbach,  and  the  Chevalier 
des  Armoises),  a  native  of  Lorraine,  a  spy 
and  poisoner,  arrested  March  29,  1673,  in 
connection  with  the  celebrated  ''  affaire  des 
poisons."  lung's  work  casts  a  broad  light 
upon  those  **  amazing  poison-dramas  '*  which 
remained  for  years  among  the  obscurest 
problems  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  ;  but 
in  the  endeavour  to  identify  Oldendorf  with 
the  Man  in  the  Mask  he  failed  completely. 
As  his  opponent,  M.  Lair,  at  once  observed 
(and  the  point  is .  emphasized  by  M.  Funck- 
Brentano),  ''  General  lung  did  not  even  suc- 
ceed in  proving  that  his  nominee  entered 
Pignerol,  an  essential  condition  to  his  being 
the  Masque  de  Fer.*' 

These  records,  then,  may  once  again  be 
wiped  from  memory  :  Oblivion  has  looked 
upon  them  all.  We  have  still  to  pluck  the 
heart  out  of  the  mystery. 


\ 


y 


/ 


s 

\ 


I 


\ 


PART  II. 


THE    MAN    IN    THE. [MASK, 


\i 


\  \ 


/ 


/ 


i8i 


^ 


CHAPTER    I. 

e 

Had     Louis     XIV.     maintained     in 

The  Intrigue 

for        Italy  tke   sagacious  policy  of  Riche- 

Casale.        Jj^^^        ^j^^^.^         j^^j        ^^^^^       ^^^^       ^ 

Man  in  the  Iron  Mask! 

Victorious  in  1631,  that  great  minister 
in  his  prudence  sacrificed  most  of  the  fruits 
of  his  victory  ;  restored  Piedmont  and  Savoy, 
retaining  only  the  stronghold  of  Pignerol, 
whereby  he  held  always  open  a  gate  of 
northern  Italy.  To  keep  watch  on  Italy 
without  alarming  her;  to  protect  the  rights 
of  the  small  Italian  princes,  while  not 
menacing  their  independence ;  to  require  of 
them  in  return  the  fullest  measure  of  con- 
fidence ;  to  thwart  the  Spanish  plots,  and 
suffer    the    Spaniards    to    draw    upon    them- 


/ 


^1 

•    VI 


-^ 


/ 


/ 


\ 


THE  INTRIGUE  FOR   C A  SALE. 


183 


\ 


»  f 

\    i 
1 


182         TIfE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

selves  all  manner  of  Italian  hatreds :  in  a 
word,  to  preserve  an  attitude  passive  but 
vigilant,  firm  but  not  threatening — such  was 
Richelieu's  judicious  policy  towards  Italy. 

And  to  this  policy  Louis  XIV.  adhered, 
until,  at  about  middle  age,  great  in  the 
reflected  triumphs  of  his  diplomats  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  his  invincible  troops  on  the 
other,  he  looked  upon  himself,  not  without 
reason,  as  Europe's  arbiter.  Before  the 
Treaty  of  Nimeguen  had  been  signed  in 
1678,  his  ambitious  fancy  had  oerleaped  the 
Alps  ;  and  in  Louvois,  his  Minister  of  War, 
he  found  a  willing  and  impetuous  supporter, 
la  Piedmont  he  possessed  Pignerol,  which, 
sufficient  in  the  eyes  of  Richelieu,  no  longer 
contented  Louis,  who  had  imagined  for  him- 
self a  great  role  in  Italy.  He  would  have 
done  well  to  remember  at  this  juncture  that 
his  authority  beyond  the  Alps  had  been 
accepted  in  proportion  as  its  aims  had  been 


^  \ 


I 


.* 


disguised,  and  that  there  must  come  a  change 
in  the  sentiments  of  the  Italians  when  it  was 
perceived  that  the  moderate  policy  of  Mazarin 
and  Richelieu  was  to  be  superseded  by  the 
** military  diplomacy"  of  Louvois. 

Among  the  kinglets  sharing  the  pleasant 
territories  of  northern  Italy  at  this  era  was 
the  young  Charles  IV.,  Duke  of  Mantua, 
*'the  degenerate  representative  of  that  House 
of  Gonzaga  from  which  had  sprung  so  many 
illustrious  men,  and  which  had  allied  itself 
with  some  of  the  foremost  families  of 
Europe."  Fll^^^^y  depicts  Charles  as  a  rare 
gambler,  rake,  and  spendthrift  ;  an  absentee 
who  seldom  visited  his  little  territory  except 
to  wring  money  from  it ;  a  leader  in  the 
gaieties  of  Venice,  where  he  was  fast  exhaust- 
ing in  extravagant  adventures  the  remnants 
of  health  and  fortune.  His  revenues  were 
spent  before  they  reached  him,  and  he 
was   always    in   the   hands  of  the   Jews.     In 


i 


.  t 


J 


V 


/ 


p 


( 


184 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


» . 


fine,  the  young  Duke  was  on  the  point  of 
being  up  for  sale — and  Louis  XIV  was  not 
unwilling  to  become  his  purchaser. 

Separated  from  Mantua  by  the  fair 
extent  of  the  great  plain  of  Lombardy  was 
the  Marquisate  of  Montferrat,  a  fertile  and 
coveted  tract  which  had  been  annexed 
to  the  Duchy  of  Charles  IV.  Of  this  region 
the  capital  was  Casale,  a  fortified  place, 
swept  by  the  Po,  and  lying  some  fifteen 
leagues  to  the  east  of  Turin.  The  district 
is  rugged,  and  at  this  day  almost  untravelled, 
but  Charlemagne  had  planted  here  an  out- 
post of  his  empire.  The  walls  of  Casale 
"  are  still  formidable,  though  the  children 
race  up  and  down  their  approaches  unterri- 
fied  ;  and  the  castle  and  the  citadel  still  re- 
echo to  the  clash  of  arms,  as  they  have  done 

for    more    than  a    thousand  years 

Palaces,  too,  may  be  found,  if  one  care  to 
look  for  them,  and — best  of  all — broad  shady 


^ 


•y 


f 


Louis  XIV. 
Prom  an  engraving  alter  Piter. 


,V 


'^ 


\ 


\ 


\ 


\ 


THE  INTRIGUE  FOR   CASALE.         187 

walks     by     the     ancient     bastions."*       This 
Casale  was   a    place    of  great   strategical  im- 
portance, above  all  for  Piedmont :    Turin  had 
always  eagerly  desired  it.     That  the  Duke  of 
Mantua,  given  over  to   his  pleasures,    should 
possess  a  footing  in  this  neighbour-territory  of 
Piedmont,  mattered  little  to  anybody :  but  that 
the  King  of  France  should  establish  himself 
there— this   would    be   a   serious   concern    for 
Turin.      He   was  already  master  of  Pignerol, 
and   if  the  reader   will   glance   at   a    map    of 
northern  Italy  he  will  see  at  once  that,  master 
of  Casale  also,  Louis  would  hold  the  Govern- 
ment of  Turin  between  two  redoubtable  fort 
resses.      From    Pignerol    in    the    south-west, 
the   passage   of    the   Alps   lay   open  to   him  ; 
at   Casale   in   the  north-east,  he  would   stand 
upon   the  high   road    to   Milan.     And   Casale 
was  the  object  of  the  intrigue   f  mysteriously 
begun  in  1676." 

•  Justin  H.  Smith,  "  The  Troubadours  at  Home,"  Vol.  i. 


/  - 


i88 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


\ 


V 


he 
his 


The  minister  of  Louis  at  the  capital  of  the 
Venetian  Republic  was  the  Abb6  d'Estrades; 
an   able,    restless,    scheming   man;    eager   to 
commend  himself  to  his  master  by  some  suc- 
cessful stroke  of  diplomacy.*     No  sooner  was 
d'Estrades     aware     that     Louvois     had     put 
Casale    into    the    mind    of    Louis,    than 
began    forthwith    to    make    the    project 
own.      Casale  must  be   ceded  to    Louis,   and 
d'Estrades  was  the  man  to  contrive   it.      He 
knew    how    Charles    of    Mantua    stood,    how 
overpowering    was   his  need    of    money,   and 
how    beggared    his    resources:   he    knew   the 
character   of   Charles.     The  situation  seemed 
as  fortunate  as  fortunate  could  be. 

Further,  it   was    well   known   to  the  Abb6 
that  Charles  was  greatly  in  the  hands  of  his 

.  "The  Abb^  d'Estrades,  Ambassador  for  a  considerable  time 
from  Lewis  the  Fourteenth  to  the  Republic  of  Venice,  was  son  of 
■  Godfrey.  Count  d'Estrades,  so  long  employed  in  negotiations  and 
embassies  in  Holland,  and  who  was  one  of  the  eight  Marshals  of 
France  made  upon  the  death  of  Turenne.  Madame  Cornuel  called 
them  '  La  Monnoie  de  M.  de  Turenne.'  "-Ellis. 


Mi 


\ 


\ 


\ 


w 


THE  INTRIGUE  FOR   CASALE.  189 

favourites;  that  the  afifairs  of  Mantua  were 
more  or  less  administered  by  them;  that 
Charles— so  long  as  he  were  left  to  his 
gamesters,  his  women,  and  his  wine-parties — 
was  very  prone  to  take  their  counsel  in  all 
things.  Through  one  of  these  persons  the 
young  Duke  might  be  approached. 

High  among  the  favourites  of  Charles  was 
Ercole  Antonio  Mattioli.  Bom  at  Bologna, 
the  1st  of  December,  1640,  Mattioli,  a  fore- 
most figure  in  Mantuan  society,  belonged  to 
an  ancient  and  distinguished  family  of  lawyers. 
His  grandfather,  Costantino  Mattioli,  had 
risen  to  the  rank  of  senator ;  and  one  of  his 
uncles,  Hercule  or  Ercole  Mattioli,  a  Jesuit 
father,  was  a  noted  orator.  At  the  age  of 
nineteen  Ercole  Antonio  himself  was  a  prize- 
man in  civil  and  canonical  law,  and  a  little 
later  he  held  a  chair  in  the  University  of 
Bologna.  Topin  describes  him  as  having 
won    some    repute    in    authorship.       Having 


J I 


(/ 


t 


190        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

allied  himself  by  marriage  with  a  senatorial 
family  of  his  native  town,  Mattioli  settled  in 
Mantua,  where  his  talents  and  his  graces 
won  him  the  patronage  and  support  of 
Charles  III.,  by  whom  he  was  ultimately 
appointed  Secretary  of  State.  The  son  and 
successor  of  Charles  III.  favoured  him  not 
less,  and  in  this  reign  Mattioli  was  created 
Supernumerary  Senator  of  Mantua,  a  dignity 
which  carried  with  it  the  title  of  Count. 
**  When  he  ceased  to  be  Secretary  of  State," 
says  Ellis,  **does  not  appear;  but  he  was 
clearly  not  in  that  office  when  he  first,  un- 
happily for  himself,  was  involved  in  diplo- 
matic relations  with  the  agents  of  the  French 
Government.'*  What  is  certain  is  that,  al- 
though not  at  this  date  Secretary  of  State, 
Mattioli  was  wholly  in  the  Duke's  good 
graces,  his  companion  in  affairs  of  pleasure, 
and  a  counsellor  in  politics  when  Charles  was 
minded  to  be  serious. 


\ 


THE  INTRIGUE  FOR.  CASALE.  191 

Him    the    Abb6    d'Estrades     resolved    to 
sound  upon  the  affair  of  Casale.     But  before 
putting  himself  in   direct  communication  with 
Mattioli,    d'Estrades   despatched    to  him   one 
Giuliani,    a    roving     Italian    newsman,    who 
tripped   from    town    to    town   seeking   things 
to   publish    in  a  sheet  of  which  he  was  the 
editor.      "  A  little    editor   of  newspapers,    in 
whose  shop  the  letters  of  news  are  written," 
is  the  description  given  of  him  in  a  despatch 
from     Venice    to    the     minister     Pomponne. 
Faring    hither    and     thither    on     his    proper 
business— Turin,     Milan,     Verona,      Mantua, 
Venice— Giuliani  was  the  man  who   could  be 
used    as    a    go-between,    and     no     suspicion 
raised    as    to    his    movements.      D'Estrades 
sent  him  to  parley  with  Mattioli  at  Verona; 
and    this    was    the    first    real    move    in    the 
game. 


I 


i_  1 


i 


f 


192 


Plot. 


CHAPTER    II. 

It  is  begun  in  the  strictest  secrecy. 
The  Ripening  Qn  the  French  side  they  were 
well  aware  that  the  occupation  of 
Casale  by  troops  of  Louis  XIV.  could  cer- 
tainly make  little  for  the  permanent  welfare 
of  Italy,  while  the  advisers  of  Charles  IV. 
were  quite  alive  to  the  necessity  of  keeping 
the  affair  from  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the 
Spanish  party  intriguing  in  the  Court 
of  Mantua.  They  were  opponents  to  be 
reckoned  with.  Charles's  mother,  Isabella 
Clara  of  Austria,  who  headed  his  council, 
and  who  was  the  real  ruler  in  Mantua,  was 
entirely  pledged  to  the  Spanish  interests,  as 
opposed  to  those  of  France. 

The  situation  is  lucidly  set  out  in  the  first 


i 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT. 


193 


long  despatch  of  d'Estrades  to  Louis  XIV., 
dated  from  Venice,  December  i8th,  1677.* 
D'Estrades  had  satisfied  himself  that  Charles 
possessed  ''more  talent  and  ambition  than 
he  was  thought  to  have  "  ;  that  he  would  gladly 
get  back  the  authority  which  had  slipped 
into  his  mother's  hands  ;  and  that  he  had  a 
rooted  distrust  of  the  Spaniards,  who,  as  he 
believed,  aimed  at  securing  for  themselves 
Casale  and  the  whole  Montferrat.  These 
were  the  facts  which  gave  d'Estrades  to 
believe  that  the  Duke  would  be  not  unwilling 
to  place  himself  to  some  extent  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  French  King.  The  despatch  goes 
on  to  show  why  Mattioli  had  been  selected  as 
the  agent  to  approach  the  Duke,  and  Giuliani 
as  the  agent  to  approach  Mattioli. 

*'  I     have    thought,"    writes    d'Estrades    to 
Louis,   ''  that   I   could    not    employ  anyone  in 

*  We  issue  here  upon  that  remarkable  series  of  papers  which  Delort 
was  the  first  to  overhaul  in  the  Foreign  Office  at  Paris,  and  in  which 
he  found  the  beginnings  of  the  true  history  of  the  Iron  Mask. 

13 


>.^ 


194 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


this  affair  more  proper  to  conduct  it  than  a 
certain  Count  Mattioli,  who  is  entirely  devoted 
to  that  prince.  I  had  known  him  for  some 
time,  and  he  had  shown  a  great  desire  to 
render  himself  agreeable  to  your  Majesty  by 
some  service..  I  knew  that  he  had  been 
Secretary  of  State  to  the  late  Duke  of 
Mantua  ;  that  the  reigning  duke  had  preserved 
much  affection  for  him,  and  that  he  was  well 
informed  as  to  the  different  interests  of  the 
Princes  of  Italy.  As,  however,  he  had  been 
much  in  the  Milanese,  and  had  had  access  to 
the  Spanish  ministers,  I  resolved  not  to  place 
any  confidence  in  him  till  I  had  put  him  to  the 
proof.  I  accordingly  charged  the  Giuliani  to 
whom  your  Majesty  was  good  enough  to  send 
a  reward  six  months  ago,  and  whose  zeal  for 
your  service  forbids  all  doubt  of  his  fidelity, 
to  observe  Mattioli  attentively,  and  in  secret. 
Having  been  sufficiently  informed  of  his  ex- 
treme   discontent    with    the    Spaniards,    who, 


f 


1 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT.  195 

after  entertaining  him  with  hopes,  had  always 
in  the  end  abandoned  him,  I  sent  Giuliani,  in 
the  month  of  last  October,  to  Verona,  where 
he  went  under  pretext  of  his  private  affairs." 

We  may  return  to  that  month,  and  overhear 
the   first    overtures   of   Giuliani    in    an    affair 
which    was    to    bring    about    results    terrible 
enough     for     Mattioli.      Giuliani    had     been 
well  primed  by  the  abbe,   and  shows  for    his 
own  part  an  emphatic  interest  in  his  mission. 
As   d'Estrades  had  instructed  him,  he  repre- 
sented  to    Mattioli    that    the   friends    of   the 
Duke  desired  greatly  to  see  him  in  a  position 
of  independence  ;    that  all    his   territories  and 
all    his    revenues    were    under    the    absolute 
control  of  his  mother  and  the  monk  Bulgarini, 
her  confessor,  and  that  Casale  and  the  Mont- 
ferrat     were    threatened    by    all     manner     of 
Spanish  and  other  intrigues. 

To   these   hints   Mattioli  lent   an  open  and 
a   friendly   ear.      "  He   had   long,    with   grief. 


13 


* 


\ 


X. 


\ 


,56       THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

seen    the    truth "   of  what   Giuliani   had  laid 

before   him.  he   said,  but  "  there    was   st.ll  a 

remedy  for  so  great  an  evil,"  and  he  would^ 

with    Monsieur  V  Abbe's   approval,  get  speech 

of  the  Duke  and  "discover  his  real  sentiments 

All   this  was  duly   conveyed    by   Giuhan.    to 
d'Estrades,  and  by  d'Estrades  to  Lou.s  XIV. 

Next   we   are   apprised  of  the    "  secret   in- 
terview "   which    Mattioli   had    with    Mintua, 
and  then  of  the  meeting  between  that  prmce 
and  Giuliani.       The    Duke,  says    d'Estrades, 
..  approved  very  much  of  the  proposition  that 
was  made  him.  to  free  him  from  the  perpetual 
uneasiness    he     felt     on    the     score     of    the 
Spaniards,  and  that,  for  this  purpose.   Casale 
should   be    placed    in   your    Majesty's   hands, 
upon    the    understanding   that    I    should    try 
to    obtain    from    you    in    his   favour^U   that 
he  could  reasonably  ask  for." 

The    Duke    desired     to    communicate    the 
matter  to  two  of  his  counsellors.   "  in  whom 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT. 


197 


he  had  the  most  confidence,"  and  he  gave 
the  selection  of  them  to  Mattioli.  Mattioli 
named  the  Marquis  Cavriani  and  Joseph 
Varano,  ''  in  whom  he  has  confidence."  The 
affair,  it  is  evident,  was  already  in  a  good 
train  ;  already  there  was  talk  of  the  preparation 
of  ''  a  draft  of  the  plan."  D^Estrades  was 
now  anxious  for  a  personal  interview  with 
the  Duke,  and  this,  it  was  agreed,  should  be 
managed  at  Venice  in  Carnival  time,  when 
all  the  world,  **  even  the  Doge  and  the  oldest 
senators,"  went  masked.  What  the  Duke  de- 
sired above  everything  was  that  Louis  should 
send  into  Italy  a  sufficiently  strong  army  **  to 
be  able  to  undertake  something  considerable," 
— an  army  of  which  he  wanted  the  general- 
ship, says  d'Estrades,  **in  order  to  be  con- 
sidered in  Italy  like  the  late  Duke  of  Modena, 
and  the  late  Duke  of  Mantua,  who  at  his  age 
commanded  in  chief  the  Emperor's  army,  with 
the  title  of  Vicar-General  of  the  Empire." 


198        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

Enclosed  with  d'Estrades's  despatch  was  a 
letter  from  Mattipli  to  Louis,*  in  which  he 
protests  his  devotion  to  him  and  to  the 
interests  of  France.  *'  For  myself,  I  bless 
the  destiny  which  procures  me  the  honour 
of  serving  so  great  a  monarch,  whom  I 
regard  and  revere  as  a  demi-god/'  He 
undertakes  to  ''transmit  to  your  Majesty  all 
that  I  shall  learn  respecting  Casale,  which 
has  been  fortified  by  one  of  the  most  skilful 
engineers  of  the  Milanese/'  He  entices  the 
King  with  a  hint  of  the  great  strength  of 
the  place.  ''  I  am  convinced  it  would  be 
useless  in  me  to  enlarge  upon  the  importance 
of  the  fortress  of  Casale.  Your  Majesty 
must  remember  that  at  different  times  it  has 
arrested  the  progress  of  many  armies,  and 
that  it  is  the  only  bulwark  upon  which 
depends  the  loss  or  the  preservation  to  the 
Spaniards   of  the  territories  of   Milan  ;    terri- 

*  December  14th,  1677. 


I 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT. 


199 


I 


tories  which,  for  more  reasons  than  one, 
ought  to  belong  to  your  Majesty's  crown." 

To  this  Louis  replies  with  his  own  hand, 
on  the  1 2th  of  January,  1678  : — 

*'  I  have  seen  from  the  letter  you  wrote 
me,  as  well  as  from  what  has  been  com- 
municated to  me  by  my  Ambassador,  the 
Abbe  d'Estrades,  the  affection  you  exhibit 
for  my  interests.  You  cannot  doubt  that 
I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you,  and  that  I  shall 
have  much  pleasure  in  giving  you  proofs 
of  my  satisfaction  upon  every  occasion." 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1677,  and  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1678,  we  have  despatches 
of  d'Estrades  to  the  minister  Pomponne.* 
The    Abbe    has   learned    from    the    Duke   of 

*  *'  Simon  Arnaud  de  Pomponne,  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs  from  1671  to  1679,  when  he  was  dismissed  from  his  office,  but 
retained  the  title  of  Minister  of  State,  with  permission  to  attend  the 
Council.  A  man,  like  so  many  of  his  race,  who  united  considerable 
talents  to  great  excellence  of  character.  Madame  de  Sevigne  says, 
in  speaking  of  the  eminent  station  he  had  filled,  that  *  Fortune  had 
wished  to  make  use  of  his  virtues  for  the  happiness  of  others.'  " — Ellis. 


200         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT. 


201 


Mantua   that,   should    the  French  enter   Italy, 
and    should   the    Duke  show   a  disposition    to 
favour   them,    the  Austrian   party  have  deter- 
mined   to    seize    Casale    and    all    the    Mont- 
ferrat.       Mantua    also     is     to     be     occupied. 
In    these    circumstances,    the    JDjuke,    who    is 
''  watched     by     his     mother,     by    the     monk 
Bulgarini,     who    governs     her,    and     by     the 
greater    part    of    his    ministers,''    can  neither, 
declare   himself  openly    on    Louis's   side,    nor 
deliver   up    Casale   to   him,    ''  unless    he    will 
send    a   sufficient   army    into    Italy   to   secure 
that  fortress."      Further,    ''  the   Emperor  and 
the    Spaniards     are      ardently    soliciting     the 
Nuncios   and   the  Ambassadors    from   Venice, 
residing    at    Madrid  and   Vienna,   to  persuade 
their    masters     to    unite    with     them    against 
France,   and   to  represent   to  them  that   they 
have  a  common    interest    in    the  preservation 
of  Italy,  and  in  keeping  out  of  it,  the  armies 
with  which  it  is  menaced." 


On  the  1 2th  of  January,  Louis  writes  ex- 
haustively to  d'Estrades,  commending  his 
zeal  in  the  business,  and  flattering  Charles 
for  the  '*  noble  resolutions  he  seems  disposed 
to  take."  As  for  the  citadel  and  fortress 
of  Casale,  should  they  be  given  up  to  him, 
Louis  says,  **  I  shall  willingly  content  myself, 
with  holding  them  in  the  same  manner  in 
which  I  held  them  formerly  ;  that  is  to  say, 
under  the  condition  of  preserving  them  for 
the  Duke  of  Mantua,  and  of  paying  the 
garrisons  I  shall  keep  there.  I  would  also, 
in  order  to  favour  the  military  inclinations  ^ 
of  this  Prince,  take  measures  with  him 
respecting  the  command  of  the  armies  I 
shall  send  across  the  Alps." 

Louis  objects,  however,  to  the  Duke's  price 
of  one  hundred  thousand  pistoles.*    ''You  must 
make    him    understand    that    this    sum    is    too 
I  large."     As  it  was  not  convenient  to  Louis  to 

*  About  ;^40,ooo  ;  the  pistole  being  equal  to  ten  francs. 


f 


»^' --^_,.     ..I -  -"  /-■■»■-     .-- ^-^ 


I  - 


ul. 


/ 


"^"^^v.- '  — 


\ 


/■ 


r 


202 


TJIi:  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


send  a  considerable  army  into  Italy  that  year, 
d'Estrades  is  instructed  to  protract  the  negotia- 
tions, and  to  "continue  to  entertain"  the  Duke 
with  the  notion  that  the  French  troops  would 
shortly  arrive  in  his  territories.  Mattioli,  as 
the  principal  confidant  in  the  affair,  is  to  be 
kept  "always  in  good  humour,  by  the  assurance 
of  the  especial  good-will  I  bear  him  for  his 
conduct,  and  by  the  expectation  of  the  proofs 
of  it  which  I  shall  be  inclined  to  give  him." 

The  main  difficulty — indeed,  almost  the  only 
one— was  to  protract  the  negotiations,  for 
everything  was  going  so  smoothly  and  so 
rapidly  that,  as  d'Estrades  writes  to  Pomponne 
on  the  29th  of  January,  there  was  no  serious 
hindrance  to  be  found  or  created.  It  was  in 
the  month  of.  January  that  Mattioli  began 
secretly  to  visit  the  Abbe  at  his  house  in 
Venice.  The  only  point  the  Duke's  agent 
seemed  inclined  to  contest  was  the  price  to  be 
paid  for  the  occupation  of  Casale.     At  length, 


^i 


i\ 


I 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT.  203 

he  proposed  to  d'Estrades  a  sum  of  500,000 
livres,  about  ^20,000.  This  was  reducing  the 
price  by  half,  but  d'Estrades  was  for  a  lower 
figure  still  ;  and,  eventually  Mattioli,  knowing 
his  master's  straits,  was  induced  to  accept  an 
offer  of  100,000  crowns. 

Taking  the  crown  at  a  value  of  three  francs 
(though  it  is  all  but  impossible  to  determine 
the  relative  values  of  the  moneys  then  in  cir- 
culation), this  would  represent  the  trifling  sum 
of  /i  2,000.     This,  moreover,  was  to  be  paid 
only  on  conditions.     "  Finally,  Sire,  I  brought 
him    to    content    himself   with    one  hundred 
thousand  crowns;  and  that  on  condition  that 
your  Majesty  was  not  to  pay  them  till  after  the 
treaty   had   been   signed;    and    then,    if   you 
choose  not  to  give  the  whole  sum  at  once,  that 
the    Duke    of    Mantua    should    receive    fifty 
thousand  crowns  first,  and  the  remaining  fifty 
thousand  three  months  afterwards." 

Everything    else    was    agreed   to    "without 


,f^--,  -■ ' 


/) 


204  THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 
difficulty."  Duke  Charles,  in  fine,  was  in  a 
hurry  to  conclude  the  affair ;  being,  says  the 
Abbe,  "  in  continual  terror  of  the  design,  which 
he  understands  the  Spaniards  to  have,  of 
seizing  upon  his  fortresses  on  the  least  pretext, 
and  on  the  first  favourable  occasion." 

The  next  step  was  to  arrange  the  meeting 
between  Charles  and  d'Estrades,  and  nothing 
hindered  this   but   the    extreme   secrecy   with 
which  the  affair  was  being  conducted.     Charles 
had  come  to  Venice  in  the  last  days  of  January, 
but  the  Spaniards  were  watching  him,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  13th  of  March,  1678,  that  he 
and  the  Abbe  contrived  their  interview.     We 
see   them   encountering    at    midnight,    closely 
masked,     "in     a     small     open     space,"     says 
d'Estrades  in  his  despatch  to  Louis,  "which 
is  at  an  equal   distance  from   his   house   and 
mine.     I  was  an  entire  hour  with  him."     The 
Duke  was  in  a  pressing  haste  to  get  the  treaty 
ratified,  from  the  fear  that  he  was  in  of  being 


THE  RIPENING  PLOT. 


205 


(( 


••\') 


"overwhelmed  by  the  Spaniards."  Money, 
money  was  his  call :  his  supplies  from  the 
Spaniards  were  threatening  to  stop,  and, 
lacking  this  support,  he  could  not  maintain  the 
garrison  ofjCasale.  His  sole  trust,  he  said, 
was  in  France:  When  would  Louis's  troops 
appear  in  Italy  }  He  was  tired  of  the  slowness 
of  despatches,  and  begged  that  Mattioli,  in 
whom,  says  d'Estrades,  "he  has  a  blind  con- 
fidence," might  be  sent  to  the  French  court, 
where  his  presence  "may  bring  matters  to  a 
speedier  issue." 

D'Estrades  was  put  to  a  shift.  He  knew 
that  Louis  couid  not  send  in  1678  the  army 
upon  which  Mantua  was  counting.  He  knew 
that  the  Duke,  who  was  all  for  clinching  the 
treaty,  began  to  be  uneasy  at  the  length  of  the 
negotiations.  Balancing  the  issues,  he  decided 
to  let  Mattioli  go  to  Paris. 


(  I 


_::&«. 


2o6 


CHAPTER    Hi 


The  Treason 


But  being  still   under   the  necessity 
.,    ,     of  biding  his  time  (for    Louis,  with 

of  Count       ^^  & 

Mattioii.     the     Dutch     on     his     hands,     could 
send    no    serviceable    army    into    Italy),    the 
Abb6    had    barely    made   this    decision   when 
he    began     to    devise     means    to    delay    the 
departure   of    Mattioii.       Here    again    fortune 
favoured  him  ;  and  the  Duke  was  at  this  time 
so   beset,    harassed,    and    importuned    by   the 
Spaniards  to  declare  himself  against    France, 
that  Mattioii,  fearful  of  leaving  him,  resolved 
to  postpone  his  journey  to  France.     This  was 
in  the  third  week  of  May  (1678).     On  the  9th 
of   July,    d'Estrades    advises    Pomponne    that 
Mattioii    is   to   start   almost   immediately,   and 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATT  10 LI,         207 

that  he  should  reach  Paris  in  September. 
''We  have  calculated  the  time  together,  and 
he  cannot  and  ought  not  to  leave  his  master 
sooner.''  Mattioii  himself  begins  to  be  appre- 
hensive ^^that  these  delays  may  give  a  bad 
opinion  of  him  ''  :  they  were,  in  truth,  just  what 
the  French  designs  required. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  month  the  Duke  is 
in  attendance  on  his  Duchess-mother,  ill  of 
a  fever.  ''  If  God  should  call  her  to  Himself, 
the  affair  of  Casale  would  without  doubt  be 
more  easy  to  conclude. '*  However,  the  lady 
lives  ;  and  the  affair  continues  to  move. 
Mattioii  does  not  cease  to  assure  the  Abbd 
that  the  Duke  is  *' always  firm  in  his  design 
of  putting  himself  under  the  protection  "  of 
Louis — of  which,  indeed,  there  was  very  little 
question. 

Still,  Mattioii  cannot  get  off  to  France. 
The  Abbe  himself  precedes  him  thither  : 
partly,  it  would  seem,  on  a  holiday,  and  partly 


2o8         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

in  connection  with  the  negotiations.  He  is 
succeeded  at  Venice  by  Pinchesne,  from  whose 
first  despatch  to  Pomponne — September  3rd, 
1678 — we  learn  that  Mattioli  has  been  ill,  but 
hopes  soon  to  be  able  to  commence  his  journey 
to  the  Court.  Nine  days  later,  it  is  Mattioli 
who  writes  concerning  his  illness  to  Louis,  de- 
ploring the  further  delay  it  has  occasioned  him. 
**  The  eagerness  I  have  is  extraordinary,  to  be 
able  with  all  possible  celerity  to  throw  myself 
at  your  Majesty's  feet.*' 

It  is  the  29th  of  October  before  we  know 
that  he  is  actually  off :  Pinchesne  has  news  of 
him,  **  written  from  Berheta  on  the  26th  of  this 
month.''  Meanwhile,  as  late  as  November 
1 8th,  Paris  has  not  yet  beheld  him.  ''  Neither 
the  Count  Mattioli  nor  the  Sieur  Giuliani," 
writes  Pomponne  from  Versailles,  '*  is  yet 
arrived  here."  At  the  end  of  the  month 
Mattioli  was  really  in  Paris. 

No  time  was  lost  now  in  drawing  to  a  close. 


/' 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLI.  209 
D'Estrad,.s  was  already  in  Paris ;  and  with  him 
and  M.  de  Pomponne,  Charles's  minister  had 
several  ir.ierviews.  A  treaty  was  quickly 
agreed  upon,  of  which  the  following  were  the 
chief  stipuk>.tions  : — 

1.  That  tne  Duke  of  Mantua  should  receive 
the  French  troops  into  Casale. 

2.  That  if  Louis  XIV.  sent  an  army  into 
Italy,  the  Duke  of  Mantua  should  be  appointed 
generalissimo. 

3-  That  upon  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  should 
be  paid  to  the  Duke  of  Mantua. 

Altogether  a  wonderful  bargain  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  King  of  France.  For  a  mere 
^12,000  or  so,  he  acquired  a  splendid  fortress 
which,  with  the  one  that  was  already  his  at 
Pignerol,  would  enable  him  to  control  the 
destinies  of  Northern  Italy.  The  Court  may^ 
well  have  been  astonished  at  the  terms,  and 
at  the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  the  whole 

14 


\j 


7 


ij 


2IO 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLI. 


211 


\ 


affair  had  been  concluded.  Moreover,  so  skil- 
fully had  it  been  contrived,  on  the  part  of 
Pomponne,  of  d'Estrades,  of  Pinchesne,  and 
of  the  small  number  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua's 
abettors,  that  no  whisper  of  the  plot  had 
reached  the  Duchess   Dowager  or  any  of  her 

circle. 

Mattioli  was  admitted  to  secret  audience  by 

Louis,  who  presented  him  with  a  ring  and  a 
sum  of  money,  and  promised  --.hat  his  son 
should  be  a  king's  page,  and  thr:t  his  brother, 
who  was  in  the  Church,  should  receive  pre- 
ferment.*    Mattioli    then    prepared    to  return 

to  Italy.  / 

The  secrecy  which  had  been  all  along 
observed  was  still  maintained.  Pomponne, 
advising  Pinchesne  of  the  Italian's  departure 
from  France,  bade  him  "  keep  the  journey  very 
secret."  Varano,  one  of  the  two  persons  to 
whom  the   Duke  of  Mantua  had  confided  the 

»  Delort,  Ellis,  Topin. 


f 


\\ 


\\ 


design,  was  advised  by  Pinchesne  that  he  had 
a  letter  for  his  Highness  from  France  ;  and 
Varano  proposed  .they  should  meet  in  mask 
at  the  opera.  At  about  the  same  date  (we  are 
now  in  the  closing  days  of  1678)  Pomponne 
instructed  Pinchesne  that  he  was  sending  him 
a  new  cipher  by  courier;  and  the  old  pre- 
.  cautions  were  kept  up. 

**  The  courier  whom  I  despatch  to  you 
has  orders  not  to  go  to  your  house  as  a 
courier,  but  to  enter  Venice  as  a  tradesman, 
or  as  a  private  French  individual  who  goes 
there  on  his  own  business.  He  brings  you 
a  cipher,  which  you  will  employ  only  in 
what  concerns  the  affairs  of  the  Duke  of 
Mantua.  We  have  been  afraid  that,  for 
so  important  a  business,  the  cipher  of  the 
Abbe  d'Estrades  was  too  old,  and  had 
probably  been  discovered  in  the  many  times 
it  passed  through  the  territories  of  Milan.'' 
The    scheme    having    advanced    thus     far, 


I< 


212 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


Louis   was   now   eager  to  see   it   to   the  end. 
The   able  Louvois,   in  whom   Topin   discerns 
the   finest   genius   for   organisation  up  to  the 
era  of  Napoleon,    rapidly  prepared  the  whole 
plan    of    action.     A   strong  body    of    troops, 
placed  under  the  command  of  the  Marquis  de 
Boufflers,  Colonel  General  of   Dragoons,  was 
assembled   at    Brian^on,    ready    to    pass    the 
frontier.    Baron  d'Asfeld,  Colonel  of  Dragoons, 
set    out    for  Venice,    with   a    commission   to 
exchange  the  ratification  of  the  treaty.    Catinat, 
then    Brigadier    of  Infantry,*  went    "  dans   le 
plus  grand  mystere"   to    Pignerol,   where   he 
was   to   conceal  himself  in   the   fortress,    and 
to   take    for    the    time    being    the    name    of 
de  Richemont.     The  first  despatch  of  Louvois 
to  Saint-Mars  concerning  this  affair  has  refer- 
ence  to   the   coming   of  Catinat.     It  is  dated 
from   St.   Germain-en-Laye,   Dec.   29th,   1678. 

•  Afterwards  the  celebrated  Marshal.     Voltaire  says  of  him  that  he 
united  philosophy  to  great  military  talents. 


I 


\ 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLI.         213 

*'  These  few  words  are  to  inform  you  that 
It  IS  necessary  for  the  King's  service  that 
the  person  from  whom  you  will  receive  this 
should  enter  the  citadel  of  Pignerol,  unknown 
to  anyone.  With  this  in  view,  let  the  Safety 
Gate  *  remain  open  until  night-fall,  and  send 
him  one  of  your  servants  ;  or  better,  if  you 
are  able,  go  yourself  to  meet  him  at  the 
spot  to  which  his  valet  will  conduct  you,  in 
order  that  he  may  pass  into  the  citadel  and 
dungeon  in  your  suite,  without  being  observed 
by  anyone/* 

Louis  had   already  written  to  the  Duke  of 
Mantua  : — 


**  My  Cousin, — 

"  The  Count  Mattioli  will  instruct  you  so 
particularly,  both  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
he  performed  the  orders  with  which  you 
charged    him    for    me,  and  as  to  the  extreme 

*  Porte  de  Secours. 


214         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

satisfaction  with  which  I  have  received  his 
assurances  of  your  zeal  for  my  interests,  that 
I  can  have  nothing  further  to  add  upon  these 
subjects.  I  am  only  desirous  of  stating  that 
I  wish  you  to  place  entire  confidence  in  my 
friendship.  You  may  promise  yourself  that  it 
will  be  both  useful  and  glorious  to  you  upon 
all  occasions,  and  you  may  always  rely 
securely  upon  my  alliance.  I  hope  to  be  able 
to  give  you  in  the  end  unmistakable  proofs 
of  this.  Having  testified  to  you  the  satis- 
faction which  the  conduct  of  Count  Mattioli 
has  afforded  me  throughout  the  whole  of  this 
affair,  I  will  add  only  that  I  pray  God  to 
have  you,  my  Cousin,  in  His  high  and  holy 
keeping. 

'*  Written  at  Versailles,  this  8th  Dec.  1678. 

''  Louis, 
[and  under  the  King's 


signature], 


/ 


''  Arnaud.'' 


TREASON   OF  COUNT  MATTIOLL         215 

D'Asfeld   arrived  in   Venice  on   the  21st  of 
January,  1679,  ^^d  at   once  communicated  his 
orders   to   Pinchesne ;    but    nothing   could  be 
agreed  upon  until  Mattioli  came,  who  was  still 
journeying    slowly    from     Paris.      They  were, 
however,    resolved    to     persuade    Charles    of 
Mantua  to  be  at  Casale  by  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary,   to  make  the   exchange    of    the    treaty, 
and    to   prepare    for   the  entry  of  the  French 
troops.     On    the    part    of  the  French,  in  fine, 
all    was  now  impatience  where  before    it    had 
been  anxiety  for  delay.     There  was  sufficiency 
of    reason    for    this,    since     the    massing    of 
Louis's  troops  on  the  frontier  must  soon  alarm 
the   House  of  Austria ;  and,  in  fact,  the  march 
towards    Pignerol  had  begun   in  the  last  days 
of    January.       But  just    as,    when   the    nego- 
tiations were  at  an  early  stage,  they  advanced, 
too  rapidly  for  the    pleasure  and  convenience 
of  Louis,  so    now,  when    everything    was    in 
readiness    on  the  French    side,   and  Louvois's 


A^  ^ 


2i6         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

plans    were  actually   in  execution,  delay  arose 
upon  delay  beyond  the  frontier. 

On  reaching  Italy,  Mattioli  was  again 
smitten  with  fever,  but  he  managed  to  see 
Pinchesne  and  d'Asfeld  in  the  first  week  of 
February.  Then  it  appeared  that  the  Duke 
could  not  possibly  go  to  Casale  earlier  than 
the  loth  of  March.  He  alleged,  through 
Mattioli,  (i)  a  want  of  money;  (2)  the  fear 
he  had  of  leaving  behind  at  Mantua  Don 
Vincent  Gonzaga,  his  heir  presumptive,*  at 
so  critical  a  juncture  ;  and  (3)  ''  the  obligation 
he  found  himself  under  of  holding  a  sort  of 
carousal  with  several  Venetian  gentlemen." 
Pinchesne,     in     excusing    to    Pomponne     the 


f  ! 


*  *'  Vincent  Gonzaga,  Count  of  St.  Paul,  afterwards  Duke  of 
Guastalla,  was  descended  from  a  younger  son  of  Ferrant  II.,  first  Duke 
of  Guastalla.  After  contesting  for  many  years  his  right  to  that 
Duchy  with  Ferdinand  Charles  IV.,  Duke  of  Mantua  (during  which 
they  were  both  merely  made  use  of,  by  turns,  as  the  instruments  of  the 
French  and  Austrian  domination),  he  was  finally  successful  in  estab- 
lishing himself  at  Guastalla  in  1706,  where  he  died  April  28th,  17 14." 
—Ellis. 


1  \i 


Reduction  du  plan  de  la  ville  et 


CITADELLE    DE    PiGNEROL,    AVEC    LES    DEDANS 

(A re) lives  du  Di^pot  des  fortifieations,) 

LEGENDE. 


DE    LA    PL^CE,    AOUT    1 679,    AU    yyVxT' 


A.  Demi-lune  Sainte-Brigitte. 

B.  Come  Sainte-Brigitte. 

C.  Demi-lune  de  Sault. 

D.  Bastion  des  mines  inforieures. 

E.  Bastion  des  mines  superieiires. 

F.  Bastion  des  mines. 

H.  Bastion  de  la  fonderie  inft'ricure. 
L  Bastion  de  la  fonderie  superienre. 


K.   FIntree  des  casemates  du  bastion 

de  la  fonderie  intVrieure. 
L.  Demi-lune    du     V'al-Saint-Pierre 

inferieur. 
O.   Embrasure  qui  Hanque  Q. 
Tour  du  Diablo. 
Bastion  d'Aiguebonne. 
S.    Les  grandes  Tenailles. 
T.  Le  petites  Tenailles. 


V.  Trois  magasins  a  poudre.  4. 

X.  Bastion  de  la  Reine.  i.V 

Y.  Bastion  du  Roi.  14. 

Z.   Fausse  porte.  i5- 

i&    Demi-lune  de  Brouilly.  21. 

1.  Porte  de  campagne.  22. 

2.  Porte  de  la  ville.  25. 
'orte   de    la   citadelle  avec   son          28. 


Porte  du  donjon. 
Abreuvoir. 
Logement  des  officier"* 
Caserne  des  soldats. 
Bastion  de  Malicy. 
Bastion  de  la  Cour. 
Basikni-do  Richelieu_s, 
Ba 


35.  Bastion  de  Montmorency. 
38.   Bastion  de  Schomberg. 
40.  Bastion  des  Capucins. 

42.  Demi-lune  de  Schomberg. 

43.  Demi-lune  de  Montmorency 

44.  Demi-lune  de  Grequy. 
4^.  Demi-lune  de  Villeroy. 


ly  de  {j^arde. 


> 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATT  10 LI.        217 

apparent  triviality  of  the  third  of  these  rea- 
sons, thinks  that,  after  all,  the  spectacle  of 
his  Highness  dallying  with  his  pleasures  in 
a  season  of  political  unquiet,  may  assist  to 
draw  off  the  suspicions  which  are  beginning 
to  gather  about  him.  In  any  event,  Charles 
was  clearly  bent  upon  keeping  his  engage- 
ment with  Louis. 

But  the  need  of  swift,  decisive  action  did 
not  diminish.  **  Meanwhile,  Sir,"  runs  a 
despatch  of  Pinchesne  on  the  i8th  of  Feb- 
ruary, ''  I  think  it  right  to  inform  you  that 
the  march  of  the  troops  to  Pignerol,  and  the 
munitions  and  money  that  are  carried  there, 
cause  genuine  alarm  in  all  Italy.  It  is  even 
publicly  stated  here  that  the  King  has  some 
great  design,  albeit  no  one  can  say  what  it 
is ;  suspicion  falling  now^  upon  Casale,  now 
upon  Geneva,  and  now  upon  Savoy,  but  more 
particularly  upon  the  Republic  of  Genoa,  by 
reason    of  what     has    lately   passed    there.      I 


21 8         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


even  know  that  M.  Contarini  *  has  written 
in  these  terms  to  Venice."  More  than  this, 
the  Spanish  Ambassador  and  the  Abbe 
Frederic,  the  resident  of  the  Emperor,  went 
to  the  Duke  of  Mantua  and  plainly  told 
him  **  they  had  heard  from  Turin  that  he 
wished  to  give  Casale  and  the  Montferrat'* 
to  the  King  of  France ;  representing  in 
strong  terms  *'  the  disadvantages  that  would 
arise  to  all  Italy  from  such  an  action,  and 
particularly  to  the  House  of  Savoy,  on 
account  of  the  Duchy  of  Milan.'*  Charles 
denied  it  roundly,  wondering  how  the  gen- 
tlemen *'  could  believe  in  reports  of  this 
nature '*  ;  nevertheless,  adds  Pinchesne,  '*he 
is  always  in  the  intention  of  executing  the 
treaty  he  has  made  with  the  King.'' 

But  the  circumstances  were  becoming  tick- 
lish, and  Pomponne  deemed  it  well  to  be  more 
pressing   with    Mattioli.      Addressing   him  on 


*  Ambassador  from  the  Venetian  Republic  to  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV. 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLI,         219 

the  2 1  St  of  February,  he  wrote:  '*  I  have  not 
failed  to  inform  the  King  of  your  sorrow  for 
the  long  delay  over  an  affair  which  was  begun 
and  is  to  be  concluded  through  your  agency." 
And  he  added  with  some  significance :  **  His 
Majesty  is  still  willing  to  promise  himself  suc- 
cess in  this  enterprise,  and  will  entertain  no 
doubt  that  the  promise  so  solemnly  given  him 
is  to  be  fulfilled." 

Pinchesne  and  d'Asfeld  on  their  part  con- 
tinued to  ply  him ;  and  towards  the  end  of 
February  it  was  arranged  that  d'Asfeld  and 
Mattioli  should  go  on  the  9th  of  the  following 
month  to  the  village  of  Notre-Dame  d'Increa, 
ten  miles  from  Casale,  there  to  make  exchange 
of  the  ratifications ;  while  the  Duke  of  Mantua 
should  be  at  Casale  **  without  fail "  on  the 
evening  of  the  15th,  to  wait  for  the  troops  of 
Louis  (due  to  arrive  on  the  i8th),  and  to  put 
them  in  possession  of  the  place. 

By  this  time  alarums  were  shaking  all  the 


220         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLL 


221 


north  of  Italy.  From  Turin,  from  Milan,  from 
Mantua  rumour,  growing  ever  more  definite, 
flowed  in  unceasingly.  Suspicions,  wTites 
Pinchesne,  were  beginning  to  change  into 
certainties  that  Charles  of  Mantua  had  made 
a  treaty  with  Louis  for  the  cession  of 
Casale  and  the  Montferrat.  The  Governor  of 
Milan  sends  couriers  flying  to  Madrid  and 
Vienna  to  give  intelligence  to  the  Emperor  and 
the  King  of  Spain.  ''  The  courier  to  Vienna 
returned  here*  on  Wednesday  evening,  with 
express  orders  to  the  Marquis  Canozza,  the 
Imperial  Vicar  in  Italy,  to  speak  strongly  to 
the  Duke  of  Mantua,  and  to  deter  him  if 
possible,  from  doing  a  thing  so  contrary  to  the 
interests  of  the  whole  House  of  Austria ;  and 
to  go  afterwards  to  Turin  and  Milan,  to 
concert  there  the  means  of  preventing  it,  in 
case  the  news  proved  true."  The  Duke,  who 
showed  no  disposition  to  break  his  engagement 

*To  Venice. 


with  Louis,  found  excuses  to  keep  the  Imperial 
Vicar  at  arm*s  length.  Pinchesne  began  to  be 
in  dread  that  the  Spaniards,  more  and  more 
jealous  and  distrustful,  might  oppose  Charles's 
passage  through  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  and  that 
of  Mattioli,  *^whom  they  doubt  as  much.*' 

But  it  was  not  on  the  Duke  of  Mantua  or  on 
Mattioli  that  hands  were  laid.  Like  a 
thunderbolt  the  news  fell  upon  Versailles  that 
d'Asfeid  had  been  arrested  on  his  way  to 
Notre- Dame  d'Increa,  and  was  held  prisoner 
by  the  Governor  of  Milan  *  in  the  interests  of 
the  Spaniards.  This  was  a  check  indeed  ;  and 
now  at  once  the  suspicions  of  the  French 
began  to  fasten  upon  Mattioli,  who  had  been 
the  first  to  send  the  news  of  d'Asfeld's  mis- 
fortune. Louis  and  his  agents,  it  is  true,  were 
unwilling  as  yet  to  consider  themselves  be- 
trayed:  the  seizure  of  d'Asfeld  might  have 
been  no  more  than  an  unlucky  accident ;    the 

*  The  Count  de  Melgar,  Spanish  Governor  of  the  Milanese. 


jf?fliC« 


hi 


\ 


I 


222 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


affair  might  still  be  carried  through.  But  there 
was  no  time  to  lose.  The  24th  of  March  had 
come,  and  Mattioli  had  not  gone  to  Notre- 
Dame  d'Increa  and  the  Duke  had  not  gone  to 
Casale.  D'Estrades  (now  Ambassador  at 
Turin),  the  soul  of  the  enterprise  from  the 
first,  was  sending  courier  on  the  heels  of 
courier ;  to  Venice,  for  Pinchesne ;  to  Mantua, 
for  the  Duke ;  and  everywhere  in  Northern 
Italy  for  Mattioli.  Acting  upon  the  instruc- 
tions of  Pomponne,  the  French  agents  in  Italy 
were  careful  not  to  communicate  to  Mattioli 
their  doubts  of  his  good  faith  ;  but  d'Estrades 
wrote  him  a  letter  in  which  the  mailed  hand 
might  be  felt  through  the  glove. 

''  If,"  says  the  Abbe,  ''  I  had  not  been  aware 
of  your  probity,  and  of  your  zeal  for  the 
interests  of  his  Majesty,  and  for  the  welfare  of 
the  Prince  to  whom  you  are  attached,  I  should 
have  been  seriously  uneasy  at  the  delay  of  our 
affair,    which    ought    without    fail,    and    at    the 


V 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLI,         223 

latest,  to  have  been  concluded  at  the  beginning 
of  this  month.  But  although  we  are  already 
at  the  24th,  and  all  that  you  can  desire  on  our 
part  is  in  readiness,  I  cannot  bring  myself  to 
think  that  his  Highnesses  intentions  and  your 
own  are  other  than  they  always  were.  You 
have  so  well  understood  how  useful  this  affair 
would  be  to  him  at  the  present  time,  and  how 
glorious  in  the  future,  and  you  have  so  ably 
represented  this  to  him,  that  I  cannot  permit 
myself  any  suspicions  on  this  head.  Neither 
can  I,  when  I  reflect  upon  the  very  consider- 
able interest  you  have  in  completing  an  under- 
taking of  such  importance,  the  conclusion  of 
which  will  be  esteemed  so  great  a  merit  on 
your  part  by  the  most  generous  and  the  most 
powerful  King  in  the  world,  who  has  himself 
testified    to   you    the   good-will    he   bears   you 

for   it As    his    word    has    always 

been   inviolable,   you  no   doubt   rely   implicitly 
upon    it ;     you     must     be     aware     also     how 


[ 


224         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

dangerous  it  would  be  to  deceive  him  and 
that,  after  all  the  steps  he  has  taken,  and  the 
measures  he  has  agreed  upon,  you  would 
expose  his  Highness  and  yourself  to  very  great 
misfortunes  if  his  Majesty  had  reason  to  think 
that  faith  had  not  been  kept  with  him." 

But  March  went  out,  and  the  treaty  had  not 
been  ratified  ;  nor  had  Mattioli  and  the  Duke 
kept  their  appointments.  Versailles  is  all 
in  profound  uncertainty;  as  late  as  the  i8th 
of  April,  we  have  Pomponne  writing  to 
Pinchesne — '*  It  is  still  very  difficult  to  dis- 
cover what  is  the  real  case  with  this  affair,  and 
whether  the  good  faith  that  was  to  be  desired 
in  it  has  been  kept.  Try  to  discover  this 
adroitly,  but  without  showing  any  suspicions  ; 
and  be  careful  to  inform  me  of  everything  that 
shall  come  to  your  knowledge  on  the  subject." 
Writing  again  on  the  following  day,  the 
minister  makes  it  sufficiently  plain  that  his 
own    suspicions    of    Mattioli's     treachery    are 


TREASON  OF  COUNT  MATTIOLL 


225 


I'J 


I 


\ 


confirmed;  and  respecting  the  Duke,  he 
says:  **  In  truth,  this  Prince  should  not  be 
allowed  to  think  that  it  is  permitted  him  to 
fail  in  a  treaty  he  has  made  with  his  Majesty. 
If  the  occasion  should  present  itself,  make  it 
appear  to  him  that  you  cannot  doubt  his  keep- 
ing the  promises  which  have  been  made  to 
the  King."  This  suggests  that,  with  or 
without  Mattioli,  it  may  still  be  possible,  in 
the  opinion  of  Versailles,  to  bring  the  scheme 
to  an  issue  of  success. 

In  a  moment  that  hope  was  extinguished  ' 
and  annihilated.  Intelligence  of  everything 
that  had  taken  place  between  Louis  XIV.  and 
Charles  of  Mantua  was  conveyed  simultane- 
ously to  the  Courts  of  Turin,  Madrid,  Vienna, 
to  the  Spanish  Governor  of  the  Milanese,  and  / 
to  the  Inquisitors  of  State  of  the  Venetian 
Republic. 

''  To  all,   in  a  word,   who  were  most  inter- 
ested in  opposing  the  execution  of  the  project, 

15 


/ 


vO 


< 


[K 


^ 


/ 


V 


226         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

it  was  known  point  by  point :  the  price  of 
the  cession,  the  date  at  which  it  was  to  be 
made,  the  names  of  the  negotiators.  They 
knew  everything,  because  they  had  received 
at  sundry  times  the  confidences  of  the  prin- 
cipal and  best-instructed  among  the  actors  in 
the  intrigue — of  Count  Mattioli  himself"* 

It  was  true — Mattioli  had  played  the  traitor. 
He  had  sold  his  master ;  he  had  sold  and 
made  a  jest  of  the  Omnipotence  of  France. 

*  Topin. 


1 

\ 


■\ 


1 


227 


'I 


/  1 

i 

1 

CHAPTER  IV. 

''  Never   was   seen,*'   exclaims    Pom- 

The  Vengeance 

of^'theMostP^^^^^     ^^      ^      despatch      of      the 
Generous"    3rd    of    May,    ''  SO    signal    a    piece 

'''"'•      of  perfidy  !  ** 

Maria  Baptista  of  Nemours,*  Duchess  and 
Regent  of  Savoy,  and  one  of  her  ministers, 
President  Turki,  or  Trucci,  were  the  first 
who  had  received  the  confidences  of  Mattioli. 
To  the  Duchess  he  had  shown  the  original 
documents  of  the  negotiations,  of  which  she 
had  taken  copies:  facts  which  she  herself  com- 
municated to  Louis  XIV.  Mattioli  had  seen 
the  President  at  Turin.  He  had  given  in- 
formation to  the  Spaniards,  and  had  accepted 

*  Mother  of  Victor  Amadeus  II.,  at  this  time  a  minor. 

i2# 


I 


228         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

a  cipher  from  the  Spanish  Governor  of 
Milan.  He  had  had  secret  interviews  with 
one  of  the  Inquisitors  of  State  at  Venice. 
All  this,  with  sundry  pleas  and  glosses, 
Mattioli  afterwards  confessed  to  Catinat.* 

The  real  motive  or  motives  of  this  whole- 
sale treason  will  never  be  clearly  known,  for 
they  were  never  divulged  by  Mattioli ;  and 
we  have  little  choice  but  to  acquiesce  in  the 
general  conclusion,  which  is — in  M.  Funck- 
Brentano's  words— that  he  had  cynically  be- 
trayed both  his  master  and  Louis  XIV.,  in 
order  to  reap  a  double  harvest  of  gold. 
Topin  asks  generously  whether  this  "gross 
cupidity "  is  the  sole  explanation ;  and  sug- 
gests that,  "  shaken  to  his  soul,  and  illumined 
by  the  sudden  apparition  of  his  country  in 
danger,"  Mattioli  in  remorse  may  have  fallen 
back  upon  the  one  and  only  means  of  check- 
ing the  advance  of  Louis.     But  this  palliative, 

•  Catinat  to  Louvois;  May  loth,  1679. 


\ 


I 


yn 


!  \ 


■     \\ 


tG^ 


[l—^ 


^  o  a  j  o 


•    <        y  •    I 


,.«••< 


PCES35S 


imimmmmm 


C*i^erAft 


1 


•  •••«0«  ff  •  t  0  #9 


u 


Plan  du  Donjon  de  la  Citadelle  de  Pignerol. 

Execute  par  M.  Robert,  le  26  Juin,  1695.     (Extrait  de  la  liasse  C,  No,  g  Archives  du  D<^pdts  des  fortifications,) 


To  face  p.  228. 


7.  Appartement  de  M.   de  Rissan,  lieutenant  de  Roi  de  la  Citadelle  de  Pig-nerol. 

8.  Casernement  de  la  compag^nie  particuli^re  de  M.   DE  Saint-Mars. 

17.   Escalier  particuli^re  de  M.   DE  Rissan,  pour  ne  pas  a  voir  4  entrer  dans  le  donjon. 


\ 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING,        229 

well   as   it    becomes    its    author,    is    not   easy 

of    acceptance  ;    for    the   conduct   of   Mattioli, 

after   his    return    from    France,    bears    every 

appearance  of  trickery   and  duplicity.      If  he 

designed    to    save    Italy    from    Louis,    he   hid 

his    project    from    his    master,    the    Duke   of* 

Mantua ;    and  he  certainly  did  not  return,  as 

he    should    have    done,    the    French     King's 

presents.     These  are  Topin's  own  admissions, 

and    he    has     manifestly    little    faith    in    the 

hypothesis  which  his  good-nature  propounds. 

Mattioli     had    presumably    acted    with    his 

eyes  open,  but  he   seems   to   have   taken    no 

measures   for   his  own  safety  in  the   event    of 

detection  ;  and    the    discovery   of  his    treason 

had  left  him   in  a  terrible  situation.  '  Charles 

of  Mantua  repudiated   him,    declaring  that  he 

had  never  authorised  any  negotiations  for  the 

sale   or   occupation   of    Casale.      But   Charles 

the    insouciant     was     scarcely     a     dangerous 

« 

enemy  ;  and    it    is    probable    that,    while   he 


«p 


230 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


might  be  willing  to  assist  in  his  punishment, 
Mattioli   had    not    much    to    fear    from   him. 
His  real   danger   lay   elsewhere.      D'Estrades 
had  beheld  with  feelings   of  mortification  and 
intense  bitterness   the   failure   of  a  project  in 
^  which  he   had  had  from    the  first    the   closest 
personal  interest.      The  details   were  his,  the 
negotiations   had   been  begun   by   him,   he   it 
was   who   had   selected    Mattioli,    and   it    was 
by  him  that   Mattioli  had  been  introduced  at 
the  Court  of  France.     Louvois,  for  his  part, 
had   been    baffled    in    the    execution    of   the 
plans  he  had  so  adroitly  laid  ;  and  a  French 
minister  beaten  at   his  own  game  of  intrigue 
by  an   Italian   adventurer   was  little   likely  to 
find   himself    in   the   humour   of    forgiveness. 
D'Estrades  and  Louvois,  moreover,  had  acted 
not   for   themselves   but   for   their  master  the 
King  ;   and   when   the   projects  of  Kings  are 
confounded  their  ministers  are  very  apt  to  be 
held  blameworthy. 


^<. 


»,>■• 


y 


JV 


4 


/■% 


--■^D*-:^'*'- 


2 

<8 


I 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING,       233 

But  there  was  a  vengeance  infinitely  more 
to  be  dreaded  than  that  of  either  Louvois  or 
D^Estrades.     Mattioli  had  drawn  upon  himself 
the   resentment,     the    implacable    resentment, 
of  Louis  XIV.     True,    Louis  had  not  at  this 
time    lost   all   hope  of  securing   Casale ;    but, 
for  the   immediate  present,   it  was  not  Casale 
that    filled   his  thoughts  :  it  was  the  unspeak- 
able,   the    incredible    effrontery    of    the    man 
who  had   outwitted,    cheated,  and  flouted  him 
in  the  face  of  Europe.     Europe  was  ringing 
with    the   discomfiture  of  Louis ;  Europe  was 
silently    laughing    at    the    Grand     Monarque. 
It    is   necessary  to    recall    his    position  among 
the  Powers  of  that  day,  the  splendid  successes 
that   had   attended   his   arms,    and    his  almost 
dictatorial    attitude    towards    the     Sovereigns 
his    contemporaries,     in    order    to    appreciate 
the  extent  of  the  humiliation  which  Mattioli's 
treachery    had    brought    upon    the    King    of 
France.       ''  The    most    generous  '*    King  was 


234         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

d'Estrades's  description  of  him.  It  was  the 
unlucky  fate  of  Nicolas  Fouquet  to  submit 
to  the  test  the  generosity  of  Louis  XIV. 
towards  one  whom  he  feared  even  in  defeat. 
**  Let  us  be  content  with  banishing  this  man," 
Fouquet's  judges  had  said.  ''  No/'  said  the 
King:  **he  shall  end  his  days  in  prison." 
And  that  was  in  the  green  tree,  and  it  was 
now  the  dry  :  Louis  was  in  his  forty-first 
year.  Again,  what  was  Fouquet's  offence 
in  comparison  with  that  of  Mattioli  'i  Fou- 
quet had  enriched  himself  at  the  State's 
expense,  and  he  had  courted  and  had  won 
a  popularity  which  fretted  the  King's  com- 
placency. But  he  had  not  broken  faith  with 
Louis,  he  had  not  contemptuously  bartered 
his  interests,  he  had  not  openly  made  light 
of  that  jealous  and  sensitive  dignity — he  had 
not  given  Europe  the  opportunity  to  smirk 
over  the  humbling  defeat  of  a  Roi  Soleil. 
Fouquet,    for    his    popularity    in    Paris,    died 


< 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING,       235 

an  old,  sick  man,  in  the  dungeon  of  Pignerol. 
What  fate  should  Mattioli  look  for? 

Abbe  d'Estrades  was  to  have  the  pleasure 
of  suggesting  it.     He  proposed   to  Versailles 
that  Mattioli  should  be   seized,  abducted,  and 
imprisoned  '^at  the  King's  pleasure."     Illegal 
arrests   and    imprisonments    were    not    extra- 
ordinary   in    France   at   any    date   before    the 
Revolution  ;    but   the    case    of    Mattioli    was 
unusual.      He   was,    as    Ellis  says  :    ''  actually 
the  plenipotentiary  of  the   Duke   of   Mantua, 
for    concluding    a    treaty    with   the    King   of 
France."     Although  his  treachery  was  known, 
it    had    not    been    proved    against    him ;    and, 
from  the  standpoint  of  international  law,  it  is 
not   an    argument   that  the    Duke  of   Mantua 
was   a    prince    of    no    political    consequence. 
The    proposal    to     seize    and     carry    off    his 
minister  was,  in  the  circumstances,  a  proposal 
of  brigandage.     But   it   came   pat   to    Louis's 
purpose  and  intention   of  revenge.      He  saw 


236         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

the  illegality  of  it ;  but,  if  it  could  be  effected 
without  scandal,  he  asked  nothing  better. 
Absolute  secrecy  in  the  business  of  the  arrest 
was  all  that  he  demanded — and  his  private 
authorisation  to  d'Estrades  was  modified  only 
by  this  condition— **  that  you  get  him  carried 
off  without  the  least  suspicion  of  scandal/' 

Satisfied  by  d'Estrades  upon  this  point, 
Louis  sanctioned  the  kidnapping  of  Mattioli. 
He  was  to  be  conveyed  to  Pignerol,  and 
kept  there  ''in  the  strictest  secrecy/'  *' Look 
to  it,''  ran  the  closing  words  of  the  King's 
order,  ''  that  no  one  knows  what  becomes 
of  this  man." 

This  was  followed  by  the  despatch  of 
Louvois  to  Saint-Mars  at  Pignerol,  dictated 
by  Louis,  the  tone  of  which  is  eloquent  of 
the  mood  that  inspired  it  : — 

**  Saint-Germain,  April  27th,  1679. 
*'  The   King  has  sent  orders   to  the  Abbe 


\y 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING,       237 

d'Estrades  to  procure  the  arrest  of  a  man  with 

whose  conduct  his  Majesty   has  reason  to  be 

displeased.       I     am    commanded    to    acquaint 

you    with    this,    in    order    that   you    may    not 

hesitate   to  receive  him    when    he    is    sent  to 

you.      You  will  guard  him  in  such  a  manner 

that,  not  only  may  he  have  no  communication 

with  anyone,   but  that  he   may  have   cause  to 

repent  his  conduct,  and  that  no  one  may  know 

you  have  a  new  prisoner^ 

*'  De  Louvois." 

Instructions  in  these  terms  imposed  the 
necessity  of  a  ruse  ;  but  the  Abb6  d'Estrades, 
keen  upon  requitals,  was  ready  there. 
Mattioli,  whose  subalpine  shrewdness  seems 
to  have  missed  him  at  this  highest  crisis  of 
his  life,  was  quite  unaware  that  Louis  and 
his  agents  had  unriddled  him.  He  did  not 
know  that  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  had  sent 
to  Versailles  the  copies  of  the  papers  he  had 


I 


f 


t'lWi' 


238 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


\^ 


shown  her.  His  utter  ignorance  of  the 
danger  he  stood  in  made  it  easy  to  set  the 
trap  that  must  catch  him. 

Although  vengeance  was  certainly  the  first 
motive  of  Mattioli's  arrest,  there  was  another 
which,  if  the  negotiations  for  Casale  were 
to  be  proceeded  with,  was  not  unimportant. 
The  Varano  who  had  all  along  been  privy 
to  the  affair,  had  instructed  d'Estrades, 
through  the  assiduous  Giuliani,  that  the  Duke 
of  Mantua  would  go  no  further  with  it  while 
Mattioli  was  at  large.  The  Duke  himseli 
appears  to  have  been  averse  from,  or  at  all 
events  not  inclined  to,  a  personal  reckoning 
with  the  agent  in  whom  he  had  implicitly 
confided  ;  but  he  was  willing  enough  that 
Mattioli  should  be  brought  to  book  by  any- 
body else.  D'Estrades  also  learned  from 
Varano  that  Mattioli  had  privately  obtained 
Charles's  signature  to  the  treaty  (for  what 
reason,    unless  with    an    eye   to    blackmail,    it 


|| 


V 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING,       239 

is  impossible  to  conjecture),  and  had  kept 
the  original  document,  with  all  other  papers 
bearing  on  the  negotiations.  By  what  means, 
asked  d'Estrades  of  Pomponne,  were  these 
likely  to  be  secured,  unless  by  the  arrest  of 
Mattioli  ?  That  act,  therefore,  while  gratify- 
ing the  vengeance  of  Louis  and  his  ministers, 
would  render  possible  a  renewal  of  the  nego- 
tiations, and  would  be  far  from  displeasing  to 
the  Duke  of  Mantua,  whom  it  was  desirable  to 
retain  in  friendship. 

Mattioli  was  now  again  in  Turin,  where, 
as  we  have  seen,  d'Estrades  was  installed 
as  French  Ambassador ;  he  was  still  visit- 
ing the  Abbe,  and  talking  and  acting  as 
though  he  were  as  busy  as  ever  in  the 
matter  of  Casale.  D'Estrades,  with  Nemesis 
in  his  heart,  entertained  him  smoothly  ;  and 
affected  always  to  believe  that  everything 
was  secure.  Through  Giuliani,  who  was 
solid     throughout     in     the     interests     of    the 


M 


I  ii 


\ 


240         TI/i:  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

French,   d'Estrades  learned  that  Mattioli  was 
seeking    money.      His    expenses    in    France, 
his    journeys    to    and    fro    in    Italy,    and    his 
bribes    to   win    over    the    Duke's    mistresses, 
had     drained     his     purse.      D'Estrades     sug- 
gested   a    ready    means    of    replenishing    it. 
Catinat     (he      said),     who     commanded      the 
French   troops   that    were   to  take   possession 
of    Casale,     was     furnished,    by     the     King's 
order,   with  ample   means  ;  and  was  prepared, 
by  the   King's  order,   to  meet  every  expense 
that     might     arise.     Mattioli    took    the     bait. 
'*  Being  one  of  the  most   consummate  rogues 
that  ever  lived"  (''Comme  il  est  un  des  plus 
grands   fripons    qui    ait   jamais    este "),    wrote 
D'Estrades,    *'this    hint    of   mine    made    him 
desperately   eager    to    meet    Catinat." 

Catinat  was  warned,  and  the  meeting  was 
arranged.  It  was  to  be  at  a  spot  *'  on 
the  frontier  towards  Pignerol  " — Catinat,  said 
d'Estrades,     not    being    able    *'  to    leave    the 


III 


\\\ 


\' 


I, 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING.       241 

neighbourhood  where  his  troops  were 
stationed."  D'Estrades,  not  anxious  to  risk 
his  skin,  stipulated  for  ''  a  few  well-armed 
men  "  in  Catinat's  company  :  '*  as  I  know 
that  Mattioli  always  carries  two  pistols  in 
his  pocket,  and  two  others,  with  a  poniard, 
in    his  belt." 

D'Estrades  gave  him  rendez-vous  at  six 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  2nd  of  May, 
1679,  at  a  church  on  the  outskirts  of  Turin: 
they  were  to  drive  thence  to  the  frontier. 
Unfriendly  fortune  led  Mattioli  to.  the  meet- 
ing-place. For  months  he  had  failed  in  the 
appointments  which  it  would  have  profited 
him  to  keep  ;  but  he  was  punctual  at  the 
one  fatal  tryst  of  his  life.  D'Estrades  had 
with  him  in  his  carriage  a  cousin,  the  Abbe 
de  Montesquieu  ;  and  in  this  company  Count 
Mattioli  set  out  for  the  frontier. 

There    had    been    heavy     rains    for    three 

days,    and    the    streams    of  that    wild    region 

16 


242         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

were  pouring  over  their  banks.  One  of 
these,  the  Guisiola,  not  far  from  the  spot 
where  Catinat  waited  with  his  men-at-arms, 
the  Abbes  party  must  cross;  but  the  bridge 
had  been  damaged  by  the  flood,  and  the 
horses  could  only  ford  the  stream  by  swim- 
ming. This,  apparently,  the  Abbe,  precious 
of  his  charge,  declined  to  risk  ;  but  it  was 
possible  to  make  the  bridge  safe  for  foot- 
passage,  and  to  work  they  went — Mattioli 
himself,  says  d'Estrades,  ''helping  so  bravely, 
that  in  an  hour  we  were  able  to  get  across." 
The  carriage  was  left  behind,  the  Abbe 
congratulating  himself  on  getting  rid  of  his 
servants,  "as  this  ensured  us  a  greater 
measure  of  secrecy."  The  journey  was  con- 
tinued on  foot,  *'dans  des  chemins  fort 
mauvais "  ;  and  Catinat,  bearing  in  his  hands 
the  vengeance  of  Louis,  awaited  them  at 
the  chosen  spot.  ''  M.  Catinat,"  writes  the 
Abbe,    ''  had    made   his  arrangements  so  well 


cc 


ll.'l 


iw: 


i. 


if 


\^\ 


THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING.        243 


\^ 


that  not  a  creature  appeared  with  him. 
He  led  us  into  a  room  "  ;  and  then,  before 
the  real  object  of  the  meeting  was  declared, 
d'Estrades  adroitly  and  insensibly  admonished 
Mattioli  ''  respecting  all  the  original  papers 
belonging  to  our  affair."  Mattioli,  who  must 
now  at  last  have  begun  to  realise  his 
danger,  said  that  all  the  papers  were  in 
a  box  at  Bologna,  in  the  hands  of  his 
wife,  who  had  retired  to  the  convent  of 
the  Nuns  of  St.  Louis.  Upon  this,  deeming 
his  presence  not  necessary  in  the  scene  that 
was  to  follow,  d'Estrades  withdrew,  accom- 
panied by  his  cousin  ;  and  Mattioli  was  left 
with  Catinat.  At  two  in  the  afternoon, 
Saint-Mars  had  him  under  lock  in  the  dun- 
geon  of  Pignerol. 

Catinat's    despatch    to    Louvois    (Pignerol, 
May    3rd,     1679)     is     of    soldier-like     direct-, 
ness  : — ''  I    arrested    Mattioli   yesterday,   three 
miles  from   here,   upon  the   King's   territories, 


16 


# 


\ 


244        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

during      the      interview      which      the      Abbe 
d'Estrades  had  ingeniously  contrived  between 
him,    Mattioli,    and    myself,    to   facilitate    the 
scheme.     For    the    arrest,    I    employed    only 
the     Chevaliers     de     Saint-Martin     and     de 
Villebois,   two   officers  of  M.    de  Saint-Mars, 
and    four    men    of    his     company.       It    was 
effected   without    the    least   violence,   and    no 
one   knows   the   rogue's  name,    not   even   the 
officers   who   assisted.      He   is   in   the   cham- 
ber  which   Dubreuil  occupied,   where   he  will 
be   civilly   treated,    according    to    the   request 
of    the    Abbe    d'Estrades,    until    the    wishes 
of     the     King     with     regard     to     him      are 
known."  * 

»   "Finally,"   says  M.  Funck-Brentano,  "we  have  a  very  curious 
pamphlet  entitled  La  Prttdenza  trionfante  di  Casale,  written  in  1682, 
that  is,  little  more  than  two  years  after  the  event,  and— this  slight  de- 
tail is  of  capital  importance— thirty  years  before  there  was  any  talk  of 
the  Man  in  the  Mask.     In  this  we  read  :  '  The  Secretary  (Mattioli)  was 
surrounded  by  ten  or  twelve  horsemen,  who  seized  him,  disguised  him, 
masked  him,  and  conducted  him  to  Pignerol  '-a  fact,  moreover,  con- 
firmed by  a  tradition  which  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  still  rife  in 
the  district,  where  scholars  succeeded  in  culling  it." 


I 


'ti 


/;Mi. 


M 


W 


\^ 


k' 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''   KING.        245 

Among     the    papers    taken     on     Mattioli's 
person    were    none    of  the    series    emanating 
from    Versailles.     These    it    was    essential    to 
secure  ;    they    were    the    tangible    proofs    of 
Louis's     failure.        Mattioli      had     said     they 
would    be    found    at    Bologna.      They    were 
not    there.       Under    threats    of    torture    and 
of   death,    the    prisoner   at    length    confessed 
that    the    original     papers    were     at     Padua, 
''  concealed    in      a    hole    in    the    wall     of    a 
room,    in    his    father's   house."      Thereupon  a 
letter  was  dictated,   in  which,  without  a  word 
that    could  betray  his    situation,   Mattioli  was 
made   to    request    his   father    to    deliver    the 
documents    to    Giuliani.     The  father,  suspect- 
ing   nothing,   handed    them    over :     Pinchesne 
presently  received   them   all  ;    and   they  were 
forwarded,  with  rigorous  care,  to  Versailles. 

Louis  XIV.  was  avenged.  If  he  had 
received  at  the  hands  of  the  petty  minister 
of    a    petty    prince     his    first     serious    check 


JHI 


246         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

in  Europe,  his  retaliation  had  been  swift 
and  terrible.  Nor  did  Europe  enjoy  for 
long  the  spectacle  of  the  potent  King's 
defeat.  The  guilty  principal  in  the  affair 
had  already  vanished  from  the  sight  and 
knowledge  of  men,  into  the  entrails  of 
Pignerol,  and  would  be  beheld  of  them  no 
more.  The  official  proofs  of  the  aborted 
enterprise  were  not  less  secure  under 
Louis's  hands  than  was  Mattioli  in  the 
wardenship  of  Saint-Mars.  The  French 
troops  had  been  withdrawn  as  secretly  as 
they  had  been  assembled  at  Briancjon.  The 
whole  scheme  was  renounced  so  promptly 
that,  in  Topin's  phrase,  it  seemed,  in  a 
manner,  as  though  it  had  never  been 
begun.*      The    Court   of  Savoy   undoubtedly 

*  Not,  however,  that  Louis  had  really  abandoned  his  project.  He 
wanted  it  forgotten  only  until  such  time  as  he  could  accomplish  it  with- 
out possibility  of  failure.  The  negotiations  were  resumed  two  years 
later  ;  and  on  the  30th  of  September,  1681,  the  French  troops  were  re- 
ceived into  Casale. 


'      (r.^ 


1:' 


\^  -l 


I 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING.        247 

had  a  full  knowledge  of  the  intrigue  ; 
'*but  Louis  XIV.  spoke  with  a  master's 
authority  at  Turin."  Mattioli  had  un- 
doubtedly made  disclosures  at  Venice  as 
at  Milan  ;  but  those  beguiling  lips  were 
sealed  eternally  behind  the  bastions  and 
demi-lunes  of  Pignerol.  And  the  affronted 
king  bore  himself  as  high  as  ever.  He 
demanded  and  obtained  from  Spain  the 
immediate  release  of  Baron  d'Asfeld,  im- 
prisoned at  Milan  ;  and  the  censure  of 
Melgar,  the  governor.  At  all  points,  and 
in  a  space  of  time  the  briefest,  Louis  re- 
covered the  prestige  which  for  a  moment 
he  had  sacrificed  ;  and  his  personal  pride, 
at  once  delicate  and  vengeful,  was  best 
solaced  by  the  certainty  that  he  had  swept, 
as  he  thought,  into  eternal  oblivion  the 
agent  and  chief  witness  of  his  short  dis- 
credit. Mattioli  was  given  out  as  dead: 
a    story    was    circulated     that     he     had    met 


248         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

with  a  fatal  accident  on  a  journey.  The 
Duke  of  Mantua  might  have  doubted  this, 
and  probably  did  doubt  it  ;  but  he  had 
sufficient  reason  for  wishing  out  of  his  path 
the  agent  who,  for  objects  of  his  own,  had 
striven  his  best  to  ruin  him  with  Louis 
XIV. 

And  the  family  of  Mattioli — why  were 
they  silent  ?  Upon  this  point,  history  has 
bequeathed  us  the  curious  legacy  of  an  un- 
finished tragedy — curious  to  us,  who  can 
follow  the  tragedy  to  its  end.  Did  his 
family  also  believe  him  dead,  or  were  they 
cowed  and  voiceless  under  the  stroke  of 
Louis's    wrath  ?      It    is    not    known.      What 

« 

alone  is  certain  is,  that  he  was  never  found 
by  them  again.  The  letter  dictated  to 
Mattioli,  and  signed  under  compulsion,  was 
the  last  that  his  father  received  from  him. 
His  wife  died  in  the  convent  of  the  Filles 
de    Saint-Louis    at    IBologna,    while    he    was 


/••' 


f 


\ 


J 


Y 


•; 


I , 


''THE  MOST  GENEROUS''  KING.        249 

still  a  hopeless  prisoner  :  there  is  no  record 
to  show  that  his  fate  was  known  to  her. 
The  space  within  the  genealogical  tree  of 
the  family,  which  the  date  of  Mattioli's 
death  should  fill,  is  blank.*  Louis's  ven- 
geance smote  deep  :  in  annihilating  the  man, 
it  had  crushed  the  family  ;  and  perhaps 
nothing  is  sadder  in  the  rnemories  of  this 
mystery  of  two  hundred  years,  apart  from 
the  fate  of  the  Mask  himself,  than  the 
wretched  ignorance  in  which  his  abduction 
and   living   burial   left    his    nearest   kin. 

*  Topin  :   citing  the  Arbor  prisccc  7iobilisque  masculince  familiie  de 
Mattiolis. 


\ 


250 


CHAPTER  V. 


The 


Good  night,  good  night  ! 

Romeo  and  ftiliet. 

May  be  seen  to-day,  on  the  flanks 
Dunilof  of  Alpine  heights,  near  the  source 
pigneroi  ^^f  ^^  streams  which  go  to  form 
the  rich  basin  of  the  Po,  the  ruins  of 
the  dungeon  wherein  MattioH  began  the 
long  night  of  his  captivity.  Close  by  stands 
the  Cathedral  church  of  Saint-Maurice,  '^dou 
la  vue  embrasse,"  says  Topin,  ''  le  plus 
riant  horizon.*' 

As  different  as  might  be  was  the  face  dis- 
closed by  Pigneroi  on  the  day  that  Catinat 
carried  in  his  prisoner  through  the  Safety 
Gate — the  small  secure  postern  which  led 
straight  into  the  recesses  of  the  dungeon.  A 
citadel,  a  dungeon :  around  the  citadel  a  town, 


Jl 


?\ft1e  furrn*^ 


Chanbr&4  $  |s r i^oti n««r  |\|(as(iuc:. 


1 


r.^ 


I 


3o  Toiies 


I         Plan  du  Chateau  d'Exiles. 

(Ext rat f  d'i^n  plan  du  temps  fo urn i  par  le  Df^pots  des  fortiftcatio7is,) 

1.  Lt)g:ements  de  la  compaj^nie  de  M.  DE  SaIiNT-Ma^s. 

2.  Aitipartement  du  j^ouverneur,  M.   DE  Saint-Mars. 


2^HE  DUNGEON   OF  PIGNEROL. 


251 


itself  enclosed  within  vast  fortifications,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  valley  of  the  Perouse,  on  the 
river  Chisone,  seven  leagues  south-west  of 
Turin,  twenty-eight  from  Nice,  and  thirty 
east  of  Grenoble — such  was  Pignerol,  the 
Piedmontese  town   of  the   17th  century.* 

The  little  town,  which,  as  early  as  the  12th 
century,  the  princes  of  Savoy  had  fortified 
for  the  surety  of  their  possessions,  climbed 
upwards  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre  ; 
with  russet  roofs  and  slender  campaniles  and 
clusters  of  turret-fashioned  chimneys.  A 
moat  isolated  the  citadel  from  the  town  ;  and 
from  the  citadel  the  eye  followed  a  double 
line  of  solid  walls,  forming  a  huge  paral- 
lelogram, with  four  high  towers  for  supports  : 
in  the  midst  of  all,  the  great  square  keep  or 
dungeon,  black  of  aspect,  "  aux  fenetres 
bardees  de  fer."  The  fortifications  were 
composed   of  a  series  of  bastions,  half-moons, 

*  lung. 


] 


252         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

and  counter-guards.  The  two  main  gates  of 
the  town  were  named  of  France  and  of 
Turin  ;  the  secret  or  Safety  Gate  was 
opened  at  rare  times  to  admit  by  stealth 
some  prisoner  whose  guards  had  been 
ordered  not  to  take  him  through  the  town. 

This    little    mountain    bourg    of    Pignerol* 
peopled    by    French    troops    and     Italian   sub- 
jects,   was    not    inconsiderable    in     the    17th 
century.       The    officers     in     chief    were    the 
governor    general,     the     commandant    of    the 
town,    the    King's   lieutenant    governing    the 
citadel,  the  commandant  of  the  dungeon,   the 
members    of  the    council  of  war,    and   of  the 
**  conseil    souverain  "   ;    a    fair    posse     for    a 
world    so    tiny.      There    was     the     perpetual 
va-et-vient   of  a   frontier  place  :    officers   from 
Paris   or  Turin,   rejoining    their    regiments   in 
the  army  of  Italy,  passed  through  ;  there   was 
much  traffic  and  some  commerce. 

*  Ital. ,  Pinerolo. 


\ 


J 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  PIGNEROL,         253 

At    the   time   of  the  coming  of  Mattioli  to 
Pignerol,    the     dungeon     of    that    place    had 
been      for     fourteen     years     the     charge     of 
Benigne  d'Auvergne    de   Saint-Mars,  seigneur 
of  Dimon  and  of  Palteau,  bailli  and  governor 
of  Sens.     Born    in    1626,    in    the    environs    of 
Montfort    I'Amaury,  Saint-Mars     died    in   the 
Bastille,  its  governor,   September  26th,    1708, 
in    his    eighty-second    year.      At    the    age    of 
twelve     he     had     entered,     as     ''  enfant     de 
troupe,'*    the    First    Company    of  the    King's 
Musketeers.    In   1650  he  was  a  full  musketeer 
of   that    Company  ;    in   1660,    brigadier  ;    and 
*'  marechal    des  logis,"   or    quarter-master,    in 
1664.     The  year  following,    1665,  saw  him  in 
command    of    the    dungeon    of     Pignerol,    in 
which  command  he    continued  until    he  went 
to  the  fortress  of  Exiles  in  1681.      Louis  XIV. 
granted    him    a    patent    of  nobility    in    1673. 
At  the  date  we  are  arrived  at    (1679),   Saint- 
Mars  was  in  his    fifty-fourth  year  ;  of  sinister 


254         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

renown    in    Pignerol :    the   gaoler   quintessen- 
tialised. 

lung  calls  him  ''  un  vrai  bouledogue/' 
but  that  term  is  applicable  chiefly  in  the 
moral  sense.  Observe  him  outwardly,  as  he 
creeps,  almost  a-tiptoe,  through  the  mazes  of 
his  prison  :  a  small  shrivelled  person, 
shadowy  of  figure,  wizen  and  dark  of  face, 
Httle  head  bobbing  nervously  betwixt  the 
narrow  shoulders,  arms  and  hands  twitching. 
**  A  mortal  ugly  little  man,  looking  eighty 
at  the  least  ;  all  bent  and  tottering  ;  inces- 
santly in  a  passion  ;  swearing  and  blas- 
pheming horribly ;  inexorably  cruel."  This 
IS  the  unsympathetic  portrait  left  of  him  by 
Constantin  de  Renneville,  a  prisoner  of  the 
Bastille  when  Saint-Mars  was  about  seventy- 
four.  ''  Inexorablv  cruel  ''  seems  not  alto- 
gether  just  ;  indeed,  I  find  few  traces  of 
active  cruelty  in  Saint-Mars's  career  as 
gaoler ;  but  a  man  so  inflexible  and  so  callous 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  PIGNEROL, 


255 


in  doing  the  bidding  of  King  or  minister  could 
be  nothing  but  the  ogre  of  his  prison. 

It  is  proper  to  spare  him  the  charge  of 
unnecessary  cruelty,  for  his  memory  is  void  of 
sympathy  :  on  the  one  side,  an  unimaginative 
pedant  who  has  no  rule  for  his  prison  but 
the  strictest  letter  of  his  orders  from  Ver- 
sailles ;  on  the  other,  a  mean  and  greedy 
type  of  the  soldier  of  fortune,  always 
whining  for  money  and  always  bemoaning 
his  lot.  He  had  peculiar  relations  with  the 
minister  Louvois.  His  wife's  sister  was 
Louvois's  mistress,  and  he  can  ask  nothing 
of  Louvois  which  Louvois  does  not  grant. 
The  ideal  gaoler,  harassed  incessantly  by 
fears  for  the  safety  of  his  prisoners,  he 
packs  his  coffers  with  the  moneys  sent  him 
for  their  keep.  Holding  them  as  wards  of 
the  King,  whom  he  served  like  a  slave, 
watching  them  so  closely  that  he  was  himself 
a  prisoner  in  his  own  prisons    for    over  forty 


256         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

years,  these  charges  of  his  were    still,  in    his 
private    view,     his     **  sitting    hens"*    (**aux 
oeufs    dor");    and    they    were    a    fortune    to 
him.      He  left  silver   plate,    furniture,   jewels, 
six  hundred  thousand  francs  of  ready  money, 
and    seigneurial    property    worth     ten    million 
francs.     Among  the  governors  of  the  prison- 
fortresses  of  France,  most   of  whom   enriched 
themselves  at  the  cost   of  their  prisoners  and 
of  the  State,  the  position  and  the  possessions 
of  Saint-Mars  were  unique.     As  commandant 
of    the    dungeon    of    Pignerol     he     held    his 
authority    directly   from    the     minister,    owing 
no    responsibility     either     to     the     governor 
general     or    to     the     King's     lieutenant  ;    as 
Louvois's  relative  (upon  the  left)  he  held  the 
minister  in  fee  ;    and   what  he    asked  of  him 
was  granted   in   advance. 

But,    as  the  prince  of  gaolers,    Saint-Mars 
was    worth    humouring.      His    discretion    was 

*  lung. 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  PIGNEROL,         257 

proof  against  all  temptation  ;  and  such  was 
his  habit  of  distrust,  in  what  concerned  his 
prisoners,  that  the  distrustful  Louvois  him- 
self found  it  possible  at  times  to  chide  his 
over-caution.  Uneasy,  timorous,  and  taciturn, 
the  duties  of  his  office  gave  him  never  a 
moment's  rest.  The  King's  orders  were 
fulfilled  with  a  servile  exactitude  :  to  discuss 
them,  says  Topin,  would  have  seemed  a 
crime,  to  seek  to  interpret  them  was  super- 
fluous. No  prison  wall  was  high  enough  or 
stout  enough,  no  moat  was  deep  enough 
or  wide  enough,  no  bars  or  bolts  were 
strong  enough,  no  sentinel  was  watchful 
enough,  no  spy  alert  enough  to  keep  that 
anxious  soul  at  rest.  He  carries  every 
detail  of  his  cares  to  Louvois ;  matters  the 
most  puerile  are  constantly  rehearsed  in  his 
despatches.  Does  a  stranger  come  to  the 
town  on  business  or  a  visit  of  pleasure  ;  if 
his     sojourn     is     prolonged,      Saint-Mars     is 

17 


258         THE  MAN  IN   THE  IRON  MASK, 

certain    that   a   plot    is   hatching  to   carry   off 
some  prisoner     from   the   dungeon.       Nay,    if 
the   stranger  shows  some  little   curiosity  con- 
cerning the  citadel,  Saint-Mars  arrests  him  out 
of  hand,  and  holds  him  captive  during  a  pro- 
longed examination.     "  Lists  of  the  travellers 
coming   to    Pignerol    were   drawn  up  for  him 
every  month,  that  he  might  see  what   names 
occurred  too  frequently.     The  prisoners'  linen 
before   being   sent   out   of  the   dungeon,    was 
soaked   in  water,  then  dried   before   a   fire   in 
the  presence   of  officers    who    had    to    make 
sure  that  nothing  had  been   written   upon   it. 
The   smallest   change    in     the    habits    of    his 
prisoners    drove    Saint-Mars    into   a   fever    of 
anxiety.       In    everything    they    did,    and    in 
everything    they     abstained    from    doing,    he 
saw  the  signal  of  some  criminal  attempt  ;  and 
one  day,  after  his  usual  visit  to   Fouquet  and 
Lauzun,  and  his  rigorous  examination  of  their 
rooms,     discovering      nothing     out     of     the 


CO 

hi 
a. 


o 


o 

kl 

a 


s 

O 

c 

a. 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  PIGNEROL,        261 

common,  he  was  first  surprised,  and  then 
exceedingly  alarmed.  The  absence  of  any 
apparent  signal  was  in  itself  a  signal  for 
him.  .  .  .  After  reading  his  naive  and 
sincere  correspondence,  one  is  tempted  to 
pity  him  almost  as  much  as  the  prisoners 
in  his  keeping;  since,  enjoying  a  scarcely 
greater  liberty  than  they  did,  the  perpetual 
fears  that  he  suffered  on  their  account 
rendered  him  in  some  sort  their  victim."  * 

Such  was  the  man  into  whose  hands  Catinat 
gave  Count  Mattioli  on  the  2nd  of  May,  1679. 
^'  He  is  in  the  chamber  which  Dubreuil 
occupied,  where  he  will  be  treated  civilly, 
according  to  the  request  of  the  Abb6 
d'Estrades,  until  the  King's  wishes  with  re- 
gard to  him  are  known.''  Already,  however, 
the  prisoner  had  lost  his  identity,  for  he  was 
passed  into  Pignerol,  and  received  there; 
under  the  name  of  Lestang :  as  Lestang,  and 

*  Topin. 


262         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK 

by    no    other    name,    was    he    known    in    the 
fortress,— save    only    to    Saint-Mars.       ''  The 
King s  wishes  with  regard  to  him"  were  very 
soon   made  known.      In  less  than  a  fortnight 
from  the  day   of    Mattioli's    arrest— the    15th 
of  May — Louvois  wrote   Saint-Mars  concern- 
ing   him     '' .     .     .     .     that     it     is     not    the 
intention    of    the    King    that    the    Sieur    de 
Lestang    should    be     well    treated,     or     that, 
except    the    absohite    necessaries    of   life,  you 
should  give  him   anything   to   soften   his   cap- 
tivity.''    Thus  ''the   most  generous  King'* — 
whose    commands   are    renewed   on    the    20th 
of  the   month.     ''Your  letter  of  the    loth  of 
this    month" — it    is    Louvois    again    to    Saint- 
Mars — "has   been  delivered    to    me.      I    have 
nothing     to    add     to    what     I     have     already 
commanded     you     respecting      the      severity 
with    which   the  person   named   Lestang  must 
be   treated."       Two   days    later,    May    22nd: 
"You    must    keep    Lestang    in   the    rigorous 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  FIGNEROL,        263 

confinement  I  enjoined  in  my  former  letters, 
without  allowing  him  to  see  a  doctor,  unless 
you  know  he  is  in  absolute  want  of  one. ' 
Later,  July  25th,  Saint-Mars  receives  in- 
structions  that  his  prisoner  may  have  writing 
materials;  scarcely,  however,  for  his  own 
solace.  "You  may  give  paper  and  ink  to 
the  Sieur  de  Lestang,  with  permission  to 
put  in  writing  whatever  he  wishes  to  say. 
You  will  then  send  it  to  me,  and  I  will  let 
you  know  whether  it  deserves  any  consldera- 

tion. 

From   the   picture   that   history   has  left  us 

of  Saint-Mars,  it  is  easily  inferred  that  he 
would  read  aright  the  instruction  to  treat  a 
prisoner  "with  severity":  but  the  proof 
itself  is  not  wanting.  We  have  seen  that 
Mattioli  was  arrested  in  the  beginning  of 
May,  1679.  In  eight  months  from  that 
time  the  rigours  of  his  imprisonment  had  re- 
sulted  in    the  temporary   loss    of  his    reason 


f 


264         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

He  was  neither  the  first  nor  the  last  of  the 
State  prisoners  of  pre-Revolutionary  France 
whom  the  dungeon  reduced  to  madness. 
Consider  that  these  places  were  virtually 
impenetrable  ;  that  there  were  no  inspectors 
of  prisons,  no  visiting  justices  ;  and  that  the 
governor  in  his  dungeon  wielded  a  power 
scarcely  less  tremendous  than  the  King  at 
Versailles.  There  was  no  system  of  ad- 
ministration under  which  the  prisoner  could 
stand  upon  his  rights,  with  privilege  of 
appeal  beyond  the  prison  walls ;  he  had  no 
rights — save  what  were  granted  him  as 
peculiar  favours.  He  depended  in  all  things 
upon  the  governor :  a  miserly  governor 
might  starve  and  keep  him  cold  and  meanly 
clad  ;  a  cruel  one  had  darker  means  at  his  dis- 
posal, and  used  them — the  torture,  the  whip, 
the  subterranean  cachot  were  always  there. 
In  eight  months  Mattioli  had  grown  mad. 
On   the   6th  of  January,    1680,   Saint-Mars 


;    1»  . 


jchainhres  audit  Chateau  ;  il  y 
,|jmit  oil  Ton  dit  la  riesse  ;  maij 

4.  L.;  K^  kf-feitCTfrmt  de  Roy,  i 

5.  L.-  logis  du  major  do  la  place,  I 

6.  L,'  quarticr  des  casjrnes  oil  soi. 

la  compagnie  francho  dc  M.  dj 

7.  E;;t  TappartemcMit  des  officiers,  f 

8.  S^Mit  les  casernes  pour  les  ca^ 

'franche. 

9.  E(^t  le  corps  de  garde  pour  leJ  cadets. 

10.  Sont  les  casernes  pour  les  so'idats. 

1 1.  Ll   corps  de  garde  de  la  place. 

12.  pi  tit  corps  de  garde  de  lorticier. 
,3.  Le  logement  du  cure  et  de  laumonier  a  deux 

14.  Gichot. 

15.  J;  rdin  du  cure. 

16.  Aitre  jardin. 

17.  Magasin  a  poudre. 

18.  V  vandiero. 

19.  L'>gis  du  chirurgien-major.  a  deux  etages. 

20.  iJ^gis  du  p.-  ^ron  du  bateau  de  service. 

21.  L  h6pital    a  deux  etages. 

22.  L  horloge. 

211.  T^'U'berge  des  i-jfiiciers,  a  deux  etages. 
24.  Li?  logis  du  Boucher,  a  deux  etages. 
2^.  L|-*  Martinet. 
26.  T^  agasin  pour  les  munitions  de  guerre. 

27  Pate-forme;    au-dessous  il  y  a  deux   cisternes,  un 

jmoulin   a  bras,    un  four  et   le   logement  pour  le 
.  boulanger. 

28  S  >nt  trois  cisternes. 

29.  L^-s  puits  au  rivage  de  la  mer  avec  les  bassuis  pour 

!  laver  les  draps. 

30.  La  prison  des  soldats. 

31.  F'iate-forme  pour  garder  le  port. 


/ 


TofS'i.S 


To  fate  />.  -?6v» 


Plan  di-  fort  Royal  de  L'.le  Sainte-Marguerite  en  1692' 

'(RMuction  au  \.  d'un  Man  fournl  par  le  D^p6ts  des  fortifications. ) 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  FIGNEROL. 


265 


wrote  to  Louvois  : — ''  I  am  obliged,  Sir,  to 
inform  you,  that  the  Sieur  de  Lestang  is 
become  Hke  the  monk  I  have  the  care  of; 
that  is  to  say,  subject  to  fits  of  raving  mad- 
ness ;  from  which  the  Sieur  Dubreuil  also  is 
not  exempt/'  The  methods  of  Saint-Mars 
were  rather  fatal  to  sanity  ;  here  were  three 
lunatics  together  at  one  time  in  Pignerol. 
In  the  third  week  of  February:  *'The  Sieur 
de  Lestang,  who  has  been  nearly  a  year  in 
my  custody,  complains  that  he  is  not  treated 
as  a  man  of  his  quality,   and  the   minister  of 

a    great   prince,    ought    to    be I 

think  he  is  deranged,  by  the  way  he  talks 
to  me ;  telling  me  he  converses  every  day 
with  God  and  the  angels ;  that  they  have 
told  him  of  the  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Mantua  and  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  ; 
and,  as  an  additional  proof  of  his  madness, 
he  says  he  has  the  honour  of  being  nearly 
related  to   the   King,  to  whom    he   wishes  to 


266         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

write  in  complaint  of  the  way  I  treat  him. 
I  have  not  thought  proper  to  give  him 
paper  and  ink  for  that  purpose,  perceiving 
him  not  to  be  in  his  right  senses." 

Versailles  was  quite  unmoved  by  these 
recitals.  Louvois,  with  the  King  behind 
him,  was  still  hardening  his  heart.  Even 
the  consolations  of  religion  were  to  be  ad- 
ministered within  the  very  narrowest  limits 
imposed  by  the  Church.  ''  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  let  the  prisoners  of  the  lower 
|-Q^er " — in  which  Mattioli  was  confined — 
''  confess  once  a  year.''  In  the  same  de- 
spatch, the  loth  of  July: — *^With  regard  to 
the  Sieur  de  Lestang,  I  wonder  at  your 
patience,  and  that  you  should  wait  for  an 
order  to  treat  such  a  rascal  as  he  deserves, 
when  he  is  wanting  in  respect  to  you." 

Then  the  mad  Mattioli  was  put  with  the 
mad  Jacobin  ;  an  economy  on  the  part  of 
Saint-Mars,  **to  avoid  the  necessity  of  having 


il 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  EIGNE ROL, 


267 


two  priests."      Mattioli,    imagining   the  monk 
a   spy    upon    him,    *' walked    about    with   long 
strides,    his   cloak   over   his    nose,   crying   out 
that   he    was    not    a    dupe."      The    Jacobin, 
''  who  was  always  seated  on  his  truckle-bed, 
with  his    elbows  on  his  knees,  looked  at  him 
gravely,  without  listening  to  him  "  ;   but  one 
day,     ''  getting     down    from     his     bed,    stark 
naked,"  he  set  on  preaching,   **  without  rhyme 
or     reason "  ;     and     preached     till     he     could 
preach    no   longer.     With    a   naivety   of  con- 
fession   most   characteristic,   Saint-Mars  adds : 
''  I      and      my     lieutenants      saw      all      their 
manoeuvres  through  a  hole  above  the  door." 
This    is    a    sore    history,     not    to    be    too 
long    pursued.       Nearly    all    that    is     known 
of     Mattioli's    life     in     Pignerol     is     concen- 
trated   into  this  glimpse  of  the  poor  frenzied 
pair,      mewed     together      in      their      narrow 
Bedlam,  with  ''I  and  my  lieutenants "  watch- 
ing   them     behind     the    door.       Yet     it    was 


268        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


better  to  be  mad    than    sane — in    Pignerol — 
with  Saint-Mars. 

Fifteen  years  Mattioli    lay   here  ;    lived   fif- 
teen   years   on   the   vapours   of   Pignerol.     K 
solitary  instance   is  recorded,  pathetic  enough 
in   the    circumstances,   of  his   attempt   to    win 
over   one    of    the    lieutenants    of    Saint-Mars, 
Blainvilliers  by  name,  by  the  offer  of  a  ring. 
In     some     raving     hour     the     prisoner     had 
written    **  abusive  sentences  with   charcoal  on 
the   walV    and    Blainvilliers    had    threatened 
him   with  beating.      A  day   or   two    later,  as 
the    officer    was    serving    him    with    dinner, 
Mattioli    said :    ''  Sir,    here   is    a   little    ring, 
which    I  zvish  to  give  you,  and  I  beg  you   to 
accept   of  ity      Saint-Mars,   in   his    inevitable 
report  to  Louvois,  conjectures  it  '*  well  worth 
fifty  or  sixty  pistoles  *'  :    it  was  probably  the 
ring     which      Mattioli     had      received      from 
Louis  XIV. 

Concerning    Pignerol,    the   rest    is    silence. 


THE  DUNGEON  OF  PIGNEROL,         269 

♦ 

Mountain  and  wood  and  stream  hem  round 
that  altitude  of  grey-black  stone,  where 
Louis's  prisoner  sits  through  fifteen  spectral 
years. 


270 


CHAPTER  VI. 

It   has    been    rightly  said    that    the 

The 

interest  of  Count  Mattioli's  captivity 

Inquisition  ^  ^ 

of  Jules     owes   everything    to   the   supposition 

Loiseleur.        ■,  <  •  1  •  1  1 

that  we  have  in  hnn  the  actual 
Man  in  the  Mask.  So  closely  did  the 
jealous  anger  of  the  King  conceal  him, 
that  his  life  in  prison,  mysterious  even  to 
the  creatures  of  Saint-Mars,  has  left  scarcely 
a  trace  in  the  real  history  of  Pignerol, 
of  the  Isles,  or  of  the  Bastille.  Legend, 
indeed,  abounds  ;  but  facts  are  of  the 
scantiest.  Was  this  in  truth  the  Man  in 
the  Iron  Mask  ? 

Who  first  sought  to  identify  him  ?  Let 
us  summarise  briefly  on  this  head  the  ex- 
haustive  perquisitions   of    Topin.       To    begin 


\ 


INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR,     271 

with,  there  is  the  political  pamphlet  already 
cited,  La  Prudenza  trionfante  di  Casale^ 
published  in  Cologne  in  1682.  Here  is  set 
forth  in  detail  the  whole  negotiation,  with 
the  parts  played  by  the  Abbe  d'Estrades 
and  Mattioli,  Giuliani  and  Pinchesne,  Catinat 
and  d'Asfeld,  and  the  Duke  of  Mantua. 
Five  years  later,  in  1687,  a  compilation  issued 
at  Leyde  under  the  title  Histoire  abregee  de 
r Europe  gave  the  translation  in  French  of 
an  Italian  letter  denouncing  the  abduction 
of  Mattioli.  There  is  then  a  long  interval. 
In  1749,  Muratori,  in  his  Annali  d' Italia, 
related  the  history  of  the  intrigue  for  Casale, 
and  the  capture  of  the  Duke  of  Mantuas 
plenipotentiary.  In  1770  appeared  the  letter 
of  Baron  d'Heiss  in  the  Joicrnal  Encyclo- 
pedique,  in  which  he  says :  '*  It  appears  that 
this  Secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Mantua  might 
very  well  be  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask, 
transferred    from    Pignerol     to    the    Isles    of 


l/ 


272         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

Sainte-Marguerite,  and  thence  to  the  Bastille 
in  1690,*  when  M.  de  Saint-Mars  became 
governor  of  that  place.'*  In  1786,  the  Italian 
Fantuzzi,  in  his  Notizie  degli  scrittori 
Bolognesiy  summed  up  what  had  hitherto 
been  written  on  the  subject.  The  same 
opinion,  that  Mattioli  was  the  Man  in  the 
Mask,  was  sustained  in  the  year  of  the 
Revolution  by  the  '^  Chevalier  de  B.",  in  a 
volume  entitled  Londres,  —  Correspondance 
interceptee.  In  November,  1795,  M.  de 
Chambrier,  who  had  been  Prussian  minister 
at  the  Court  of  Turin,  essayed  to  prove  in 
a  lecture  delivered  to  the  Belles-Lettres 
class  at  the  Academy  of  Berlin,  that  Count 
Mattioli  and  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask 
were  one  and  the  same  individual.f  Just 
one  hundred  years  ago  appeared  the  pamphlet 

*  It  was  in  1698  that  Mattioli  came  to  the  Bastille. 

t  Mentioning  the  subject  one  day  to  a  very  intelligent  German  lady 
of  my  acquaintance,  she  replied  ;  "Mattioli?  Yes,  of  course.  We 
were  taught  that  at  school." 


I 


V 

I 


INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR.     273 

of  Roux-Fazillac,  who  was  the  first  to  publish 

documents    in    support    of    his    case.       Much 

more  complete,  however,  were  the  documents 

of  Delort,  whose  small,  well-reasoned  treatise, 

Histowe  de  r Homme  aic  Masque  de  Fer,  was 

published    in    Paris   in    1825.      By  permission 

of  Comte  d'Hauterive,  Keeper  of  the  Archives 

of  the    Office   of  Secretary   of  State   for   the 

Foreign    Department,    Delort    examined    and 

made    excellent     use    of    all     the    despatches 

known    at    that    day.      The   history   that    he 

drew    from    them    seemed    conclusive.       It    is,' 

in    effect,    the    true    history  ;    but,    as    will    be 

seen,     it    is    the     true    history    with    a    very 

important  error.     Ellis's  work,  which  appeared 

a  year  or  two  later  (the  second  edition,  which 

is  before   me,  is  dated    1827)   was  little  more 

than    an    adaptation    of     Delort's.        Camille 

Rousset,  in  his  Histoire  de  Louvois,  rehearses 

once  more  the  story  of  the   negotiations,  and 

says  :    *'  We  share  the  opinion    of  those  who 

18 


\ 


274 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


hold  that  the  Masque  de  Fer  was  none  other 
than  Mattioli/'  Depping,  in  his  Correspondance 
administrative  sous  Louis  XIV.,  is  of  the 
same  mind. 

Except,     however     by     Roux-Fazillac     and 
Delort,  there  was  little  attempt  to  prove  that 
the   person   arrested    and   carried   to   Pignerol 
on  the  2nd  of  May,    1679,  was   identical  with 
the  prisoner   who  died  in  the   Bastille  on   the 
19th  of  November,  1703.     And  that,  of  course, 
constitutes  the  knot  of  the  problem.      *^That 
Mattioli   was   seized    in     1679    by   a    French 
agent,    and     forcibly    carried     to     Pignerol — 
this,   as  we  have  seen,  was  a  fact  which  had 
long  been  known.       But   that    intrigue    is    no 
longer  our  sole  concern  :    a  mere  preliminary 
of  the   question    which    engages    us.       What 
is    essential    is,  to   follow   the  minister  of  the 
Duke  of   Mantua  from  prison  to  prison,   and 
to  see  not  only  whether  he  might  have  been, 
but    whether    it    is    impossible  that   he  should 


i 


\< 


\ 


INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR.     275 

not  have  been,  that  mysterious  prisoner 
brought  by  Saint- Mars  in  1698  from  the 
Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite  to  the  Bastille, 
where  he  died  in  1703.  Delort  believed 
that  he  had  proved  it.  His  conviction  was 
profound,  and  to  many  his  demonstration 
seemed  irrefutable."*  But  the  documents 
discovered  by  Delort  did  not  contain  the 
whole  history  ;  the  omissions,  in  fact,  were 
serious,  and  we  are  now  to  see  how  a  keen 
examiner,  detecting  them,  with  one  stroke 
of  his  pen  shattered  the  system — and  left 
the  riddle  of  the  Mask  apparently  insoluble 
to  the  end  of  time. 

Mattioli  was  incarcerated  in  Pignerol  on 
the  2nd  of  May,  1679.  At  this  date  the 
dungeon  held,  besides  Fouquet  and  Lauzun, 
four  other  prisoners  concerning  whom  it  is 
necessary  to  note  that  they  were  quite  obscure 
and    unimportant    persons.        One    of    them, 


Topin. 


18* 


/ 


7 


276         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

Eustache     Dauger,    brought     to    Pignerol    in 
July,  1669,  had  served  Fouquet  in  the  capacity 
of  valet.     Another,   the   Jacobin   monk   whom 
we  have  seen   sharing  his  cell   with    Mattioli, 
and  who  had  been  imprisoned  in  April,   1674, 
is  branded  by  Louvois  as   *^a  finished   rogue, 
whom  you   cannot  treat  badly  enough."      He 
was  to  have  ''  no  fire   in  his  chamber,  unless 
he   is  ill  or  the  severity  of  the  cold  compels 
It,     and     no     other    nourishment    than    bread 
with    wine-and-water."       The    two    remaining 
prisoners  were   a    certain  La  Riviere  and  the 
Dubreuil    whose    name    has   been    mentioned. 
So  insignificant   were  these,  that  when  Saint- 
Mars     was    called    from    the    government    of 
Pignerol    to    that    of    Exiles,    Louvois    asked 
ot  him  a  memoir  furnishing   their  names  and 
the  reasons    why    they  had    been    imprisoned. 
It  is  clearly  not  among  prisoners  of  such  small 
consideration,  prisoners  of  whom  the  Minister 
knows    neither    the    names    nor   the  causes   of 


\ 


.  ? 


! 


INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR.     277 

their  detention,  that  we  shall  find  the  Man 
in  the  Mask.  Fouquet  died  at  Pignerol  in 
March,  1680.  Lauzun  was  released  the  22nd 
of  April,  1681. 

On  the  1 2th  of  May,  1681,  Louvois 
announced  to  Saint-Mars  that  the  King  had 
appointed  him  to  the  command  of  the  fortress 
of  F^xiles.  On  the  9th  of  June  the  Minister 
wrote  again,  instructing  Saint-Mars  as  to  the 
precautions  to  be  observed  respecting  the 
journey  from  Pignerol  of  those  of  his  prisoners 
who  were  to  be  removed. 

*'  His  Majesty's  desire  is,  that  as  soon  as 
the  room  at  Exiles,  which  you  shall  judge 
the  most  proper  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the 
two  prisoners  in  the  lower  tower,  shall  be 
ready  to  receive  them,  you  send  these  prisoners 
out  of  the  citadel  of  Pignerol  in  a  litter,  and 
conduct  them  there  under  the  escort  of  your 
troop  .  .  .  Immediately  after  the  pri- 
soners'   departure,    it    is    his    Majesty's    wish 


278 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


that  you  proceed  to  Exiles,  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  government,  and  to  settle  yourself 
there." 

Here  were  two  prisoners  to  be  removed. 
A  word  follows  concerning  ''  the  rest  of  the 
prisoners  now  in  your  charge,"  which  it  will 
be  important  to  remember  at  the  final  stage 
of  the  enquiry.  **  The  Sieur  de  Chamoy," 
says  Louvois,  **has  instructions  to  pay  two 
crowns  a  day  for  the  maintenance  of  these 
thi'ee  prisoners."  There  were  thus  five 
prisoners  in  Pignerol  on  the  eve  of  the 
departure  of  Saint-Mars  for  Exiles. 

The  prisoners  to  be  removed  were  the  two 
prisoners  of  the  lower  tower.  The  lower 
tower  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  prison  of 
Mattioli  and  the  Jacobin  monk :  what  more 
natural,  then,  than  to  conclude  that  these 
were  the  two  whom  Saint-Mars  carried  with 
him  to  Exiles  ?  This  was  the  obvious  view 
adopted    by    Roux-Fazillac,     Delort,    and    all 


.\ 


03 


14 
o 

x: 
H 


_i. 


INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR,     281 

investigators  up  to  the  time  of  Topin.     Was 
it  the  true  one  ? 

In  the  course  of  years  the  dimate  of  Exiles 
affected  the  health  of  Saint-Mars ;  and  the 
ever-obliging  Louvois  procured  him  a  change 
of  government.  Early  in  1687  he  was  called 
to  the  Isles  of  Sainte- Marguerite- Saint- 
Honorat,  in  the  Sea  of  Provence.  To  the 
fortress  of  Sainte-Marguerite  he  took  one 
prisoner  only.  The  date  was  the  30th  of 
April,  1687.  Delort  and  the  rest,  determined 
not  to  lose  sight  of  their  candidate  for  a 
moment,  declared  that  this  **  seul  prisonnier " 
must  be  Mattioli.  No  name  was  mentioned, 
and  definite  proof  was  lacking  ;  but  probability 
favoured  the  conjecture. 

Let  us  see  how  it  is  established  that  one 
alone  of  the  two  prisoners  brought  from 
Pignerol  to  Exiles  was  carried  from  Exiles 
to  the  Isles.  A  few  days  before  the  close 
of    1685    (December    the    23rd),    Saint-Mars 


282         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

wrote   to    Louvois  :    ''  My   prisoners   are    still 
ill,  and  under   medical    treatment.     They  are, 
however,   perfectly  tranquil/'     In    the  autumn 
of   the  following   year,   one   of    the    prisoners 
was    dropsical.       *^You    ought     to    have   told 
me,"    writes     Louvois,     October    9th,     1686, 
*^  which      of     your      prisoners     has     become 
dropsical."      He   writes    again    on    the  3rd    of 
November :  ''  It   will   be    proper    to   let    your 
dropsical    prisoner    be    confessed,    when    you 
are    certain    that    his    end    is    near."       In    the 
first    days    of     January,     1687,     the    prisoner 
died.     ''  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  5th 
inst.,"    writes  -Louvois    (January    13th,    1687), 
**  which    informs    me   of   the    death    of  one    of 
your  prisoners.      I    will   say  no  more  concern- 
ing   your    desire    for    a   change    of    govern- 
ment,   since    you    have    already   learned    that 
the  King  has  been  pleased   to  confer  on    you 
a  better  post  than  the  one  you  are  in  posses- 
sion of"     The  death   of  one  of  the  prisoners 


M 


1 


INQUISITION  OF  JULES  LOISELEUR,     283 

brought  by  Saint-Mars  from  Pignerol  to 
Exiles  is  thus  demonstrated.  Was  it  Mattioli 
or  the  other  ?  Delort  and  his  contemporaries 
concluded,  positively  for  the  most  part,  that 
it  was  the  other. 

They  overlooked,  however,  one  fact  of  the 
extremest  significance.  It  was,  that  from  the 
date  of  this  death  at  Exiles  Mattioli  s  naine 
disappears  entirely  from  the  correspondence  of 
Lotcvois  and  Saint- Mars.  Now  there  may 
be  nothing  absolutely  conclusive  in  this  ;  but, 
taken  with  the  testimony  of  the  death,  it 
seems  to  plunge  into  hopeless  uncertainty 
every  system  which  has  sought  to  solve 
through  Mattioli  the  mystery  of  the  Man  in 
tl  Mask.  Such  was  the  terribly  destructive 
en  icism  of  Jules  Loiseleur,  in  the  Revue 
Co7itemporaine,^  a  criticism  which  demolishes 
those  systems  in  a  fashion  the  most  decisive. 
If    Mattioli    and    the     monk    were    the    two 

*  July  2ist,   1867. 


284         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

prisoners  whom  Saint-Mars  carried  to  Exiles 
(and   we   have   seen   that   their    removal  was 
ordered  by  Louvois)  ;  if  one  of  the  pair  died 
of  dropsy   at    Exiles   in    January,    1687    (and 
the  document  in   proof  has   been  cited) ;  and 
if  from   this    date    Mattioli's    name    vanishes 
from  the  letters   of   Louvois  and   Saint-Mars 
—with  what  confidence  may  it  be   pretended 
that   Mattioli  was  the  masked  man   borne    in 
secret     by     Saint-Mars    to    the     Bastille    in 
September,      1698?        "His    demonstration," 
wrote  a  contemporary  critic  of  Loiseleur,  "at 
once     luminous     and     peremptory,     has     ex- 
hausted the  question  ;  and,  in  default  of  fresh 
documents,   no  serious  mind  will  ever   return 
to   it."      Topin   confesses   that    after    reading 
and  re-reading  this  demonstration,*    he  could 
resolve  no  otherwise  than   that  the  secret  of 
the  Mask  was  and  would  remain  impenetrable. 

•  Refuted,  nevertheless,  by  him  in  so  far  as  concerned  Loiseleur's 
hypothesis  of  the  arrest  of  the  spy  by  Catinat. 


285 


,>>. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


The  Missing 
Link 


Comes     the     question     then  :      has 
the    Man    in   the    Mask   once   more 
Revealed  by  and    finally  eluded   us  ?      Let    us    go 
^'''"'      a    step     further.      Baudry   had     said 
of  the   inquisition    of    Loiseleur,    that    it   had 
exhausted    the   problem ;    that,   if  other  docu- 
ments    were     not     forthcoming,     no     serious 
mind     would     return     to      its     consideration. 
But    it    has    been     stated     before,    and     the 
statement    must   be    repeated,   that  the  whole 
truth    of    this    strange    drama    was    not   con- 
tained    in     any     single     set     of    documents. 
Louis   XIV.   was  little  likely  to  leave  us  the 
epitome    of    it  ;    and    no    minister    who    had 
part    in    the    affair    ever    forgot    the    Kings 


286     \tHE  man  in  the  IRON  MASK. 

command  to  d'Estrades  :  //  faudra  que 
personne  ne  sfacke  ce  que  cet  homme  sera 
devenUy — No  one  must  know  what  becomes 
of  this  man.  His  very  name  had  already 
disappeared,  save  only  for  those  few  who 
had  known  it  from  the  first.  At  Pignerol, 
he  was  Lestang ;  in  the  Bastille,  he  was 
the  prisoner  from  Provence.  Apart  from 
the  brief  but  pregnant  documents  of  the 
Bastille,  to  be  presented  when  their  time 
comes,  his  identity  was  only  to  be  made 
good  by  the  comparison  of  innumerable 
despatches,  ''  not  one  among  which  furnishes 
by  itself  an  irrefutable  proof,  but  which  in 
their  entirety,  with  the  logical  deductions 
that  may  be  drawn  from  them,  conduct  to 
an  absolute  certainty/'  * 

But  there  could  be  no  doubt  that,  after 
Loiseleur,  fresh  documents  were  necessary, 
if    this    certainty    were   ever   to    be    attained. 

*  Topin. 


/ 


A  Corner  of  tlieiFort  of  Exiles. 


\ 


t 


y 


■ ) 


'  / 


THE  MISSING  LINK  REVEALED,       289 

These     documents    were     found     by     Topin. 
The    passage     in     which     he     explains     how 
he    first    imagined    their    existence,    and    then 
went    on   to    prove    it,    is    peculiarly    interest- 
ing,   as    showing    both    his    extreme    mental 
ingenuity     and      the     inexhaustible     patience 
with    which    he  pursued  a  task  now  regarded 
as      well  -  nigh      impossible      of     completion. 
There    comes     first     a    letter,     of    which,    at 
sight,   the  significance    is    less   than    nothing : 
a   letter   from    Louvois   to    Saint-Mars,   dated 
January     5th,     1682.       At    this    time     Saint- 
Mars     has      been     but     a     few     months      at 
Exiles;    but   he    is   already  clamouring    for   a 
change    of    government,    and     has    evidently 
been     sounding      Louvois     on     the     subject, 

Louvois  replies  : 

''  I  received  your  letter  of  the  28th  ult. 
You  do  not  know  where  your  interest  lies, 
when  you  propose  to  exchange  the  govern- 
ment  of   Exiles    against  that   of    Casale,    the 

19 


290 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


value  of  which  is  only  two  thousand  livres 
a  year.*  I  strongly  advise  you  not  to  think 
further  of  it." 

There  is  no  more  in  the  despatch  than 
that.  It  suggests  nothing  but  the  interest 
of  Louvois  in  the  personal  fortunes  of 
Saint-Mars,  whose  sister-in  law  was  the 
minister's  mistress.  Saint-Mars,  incessantly 
grasping  (and  suffering  in  health  at  Exiles), 
seeks  another  change  of  place  :  Louvois 
responds  that  the  change  he  proposes  will 
put  nothing  into  his  purse.  It  is  the  letter, 
.  not  of  the  minister  to  the  gaoler,  but  of  the 
minister  to  his  friend :  it  is  a  strictly  per- 
sonal communication.  What,  then,  is  its 
value  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  criticism  of 
Loiseleur,  which  showed — upon  the  docu- 
ments put  in — that  Mattioli,  if  he  did 
not  die  of  dropsy  at  Exiles,  did  at  all 
events    disappear   incontinently   from  the  des- 

*The  amount  which  Saint-Mars  was  receiving  at  Exiles. 


i\ 


X 


THE  MISSING  LINK  REVEALED,      291 

patches   which,    up   to   this    point,    had    been 
almost  solely  occupied  with  him? 

The     supposition    is     still,    of    course,    that 
Mattioli  was  one  of   the  two  prisoners  whom 
Saint-Mars    carried    with    him    from    Pignerol 
to   Exiles.      Just   here,    however,     the     doubt 
comes  in    that   suggested   itself  to   Topin.      If 
Mattioli    were     with     Saint-Mars    at     Exiles, 
what     more    imprudent   than    that    he   should 
propose     to     take     him— ^n     Italian     subject 
forcibly   stolen    from     Italy — into    an     Italian 
town,  and   a   town  Mantuan   in    its  hereditary 
interests!     If    it    were    in    any    way    possible 
that      Mattioli     should     discover     himself    to 
friends,     he    would    at    least    have    a     better 
chance  of  doing  so  in  Casale   than  at  Exiles. 
How     did     this     not   occur    to     Saint-Mars  ? 
And,    if    it    missed   the   sleepless   intelligence 
of  Saint- Mars,  how  came  it  also  to  be  passed 
by  Louvois  }     But  Louvois  evidently  has  not 
a  thought    of    danger.     His    sole    motive    in 

19* 


I 


292        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 
dissuading    Saint-Mars    from   Casale    is    that 
his   pocket  would    profit    nothing   by  the   ex- 
change.    Mattioli,  whom  it  would  have  been 
unwise   to   carry  back   into    Italy,   is    not    so 
much  as  mentioned.     Then  Mattioli,  perhaps, 
was    not    at   Exiles    at    all,  and    had    never 
been    sent  there  ?      This  was   the  inspiration 
that  Topin  drew  from  the  colourless  despatch 

of  Louvois. 

The   chance  of    success    in    this    direction 
was  a   very  feeble  one;  for   the   despatch    of 
Louvois  was  extant,  ordering  the  removal  of 
the   two   prisoners  of   the   tour  d'en  das,  the 
lower  tower,  to  which  Mattioli  and  the  monk 
had   been    relegated;    and   the  despatch   had 
closed   with  the  injunction    that    "the    effects 
belonging    to    the    Sieur   de    Mattioli  which 
are   in   your    possession   are   to   be  taken   to 
Exiles,    so    that    they    may  be  given  back  to 
him,  should   his    Majesty  ever   decide    to    set 
the  prisoner  at  liberty."    This  was  categorical. 


i\ 


i 


[ 


[> 


THE  MISSING   LINK  REVEALED.       293 

Still,  Topin's  doubts  persisted.  If  Mattioli 
were  indeed  at  Exiles,  how  could  Saint-Mars 
propose  to  transfer  him  to  Casale?  And 
how  did  Louvois  let  that  proposal  pass  un- 
rebuked  ?  With  these  questions  pricking  him, 
Topin  returned  to  the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale 
to  begin  the  search  anew — and  the  missing 
link  revealed  itself 

It  was  found  in  a  letter  from  Saint-Mars 
to  d'Estrades,  bearing  date  June  25th,  1681. 
Saint-Mars,  the  least  gregarious  of  men,  had 
sworn  an  ardent  friendship  with  the  Abbe, 
and  he  hastens  to  share  with  him  the  news 
of  his  appointment  to  Exiles.  **  Count  on 
me  as  your  most  devoted.  I  received  yesterday 
the  warrant  appointing  me  to  the  governor- 
ship of  Exiles,  at  a  salary  of  two  thousand 
livres.     ...     I  am   to  take   with    me    two 

jail-birds  *    whom     I     have     here 

Mattioli  remains  where  he   is,  with  two  other 

*  "  Deux  merles." 


294 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


prisoners.      One    of    my    lieutenants,    named 
Villebois,  will  have  charge  of  them." 

Mattioli,  therefore,  was  not  the  prisoner 
who  died  at  Exiles  in  January,  1687.  He 
never  went  to  Exiles  at  all.  The  purpose 
indicated  in  Louvois's  despatch,  of  the  9th 
of  June.  i68r,  had  been  abandoned;  and 
Mattioli  remained  at  Pignerol,  where  he  will 
be  found  in  the  keeping  of  Villebois.  The 
long  silence  of  Louvois  and  Saint-Mars 
concerning  him  thus  receives^  its  natural 
explanation. 

The  perplexity,  the  scepticism  which  Loise- 
leur's  examination  had  produced,  vanished 
upon  this  discovery.  Mattioli  was  at  Pignerol 
and  at  the  Isles  and  in  the  Bastille  ;  Delort's 
error,  which  for  a  time  cast  into  uncertainty 
the  whole  history  of  the  Mask,  lay  in  re- 
moving him  from  Pignerol  to  Exiles.  There 
are  two  traits  or  characters  in  the  history 
of    the     Mask    which    attach    themselves    to 


THE  MISSING  LINK  REVEALED,       295 

Mattioli  alone,  of  all  the  prisoners  whom 
Saint-Mars  had  in  his  keeping  :  the  unvarying 
tradition  of  his  detention  at  Sainte-Marguerite, 
and  the  documental  certainty  of  his  detention 
at  Pignerol.  In  Du  Juncas  journal,  the 
prisoner  whom  Saint-Mars  brings  to  the 
Bastille  in  September,  1698,  is  an  ancient 
prisoner  whom  he  had  at  Pignerol,  Exiles 
finds  no  place  in  the  entry.  We  know  that 
Saint-Mars  had  Mattioli  in  his  charge  during 
two  years  at  Pignerol,  and  Topin  has  shown 
that  the  prisoner  was  not  transferred  to 
Exiles.  But  for  that  unfortunate  error,  which 
is  principally  identified  with  Delort,  the  pro- 
blem might  long  since  have  been  resolved. 


296 


FRISONER    OF  CONSEQUENCE. 


297 


CHAPTER    VI     I. 


The 


Most  visitors  to  the  Riviera  have 
Prisoner  of  Hiade  the  little  trip  to  the  Isles 
Consequence,  ^f  Sainte  -  Marguerite  and  Saint- 
Honorat,  enticed  by  the  piquant  legend  of 
the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask.  A  good  woman 
discovers  you  his  cell,  charms  you  and  thrills 
you  with  stories  of  his  fine  apparel,  his 
plate,  and  the  deference  shown  him  by  Saint- 
Mars  :  poor  Mask,  who  had  no  fine  clothes 
and  no  plate,  and  whom  the  deferential 
gaoler  had  threatened  with  a  cudgel !  The 
Isles  owe  most  of  their  celebrity  to  what  is 
purely  fabulous  in  this  history,  but  they  have 
other  annals  also. 

Lying  some  fifteen  hundred  yards  from  the 
shore,     the     two     islands,     of    which     Sainte- 


Marguerite  is  the  larger,  are  as  sentinels  over 
the  pleasure-haunts  of  Nice,  Cannes,  and  San 
Remo.     Rock  and  reef  lend  some  amount  of 
danger   to   the   approach.      Within,    the    Isles 
are    dark     with     pine     trees,    cumbered     and 
strengthened     with      shaggy      hills,      gigantic 
boulders.     Climbing    Sainte-Marguerite's   top, 
the  traveller's  eyes  are  filled  with  a  marvellous 
golden  light ;   before  him   undulates  on   either 
hand  all  that  sun-bathed  shore  of  the  Riviera ; 
he    counts    the    glistening    villas    of   Cannes ; 
grey-green  hills  of  olive   rise   beyond  ;    to  the 
left  streams  out  the  long  chain   of  the  Esterel, 
*'with  contours  brusque  and  varied";  and  on 
the    right    the    Maritime    Alps    cast    up    their 
*'  thousand  years  of  snow." 

The  Romans  were  here  once  ;  hermits  have 
dwelt  in  these  island  solitudes  ;  the  Saracens 
have  invaded  and  the  Spaniards  have  sacked 
them.  *      In   the   dawn    of   the    fifth    century 

*  Topin. 


298         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

Saint-Honorat  founded  here  a  monastery, 
greatly  celebrated  of  the  Gauls,  where  '^thou- 
sands of  apostles"  practised  virtue  and  the 
monkish  arts.  On  the  smaller  island  is 
still  shown  the  well  which  the  saint  created, 
yielding  a  miraculous  sweet  water.  Here 
came  Francis  I.,  prisoner  of  the  Spaniards 
after  the  disastrous  field  of  Pavia,  to  endure  a 
harsh  captivity.  Here,  to  Sainte- Marguerite, 
was  sent,  in  December,  1873,  Marshal 
Bazaine,  who  broke  prison  and  escaped  the 
night  of  the  9th  of  August,  1874.  The  two 
islands  bear  the  common  name  of  the  lies  de 
Lerins.  The  memory  of  the  Iron  Mask, 
whose  prison  was  the  fortress  of  Sainte- 
Marguerite,  has  conferred  on  the  Lerins  a 
celebrity  which  seems  likely  to  endure. 

Hither,  then,  came,  in  1687,  the  most  incor- 
ruptible gaoler,  Saint-Mars.  He  had  received 
word  of  his  new  appointment  on  the  20th  of 
January ;    he  was  in   ill-health,  and   eager  for 


m. 


PRISONER    OF  CONSEQUENCE.  299 

the  healing  South.  He  wrote  to  Louvois : — 
*'  I  am  most  grateful  for  the  new  favour  which 
his  Majesty  has  just  bestowed  on  me  (the 
Government  of  the  Isles  of  Sainte-Mar- 
guerite).  If  you  order  me  to  proceed  there 
without  delay,  I  would  request  to  be  allowed 
to  take  the  road  through  Piedmont,  on  account 
of  the  great  quantity  of  snow  that  lies  between 
this  place  and  Embrun."  He  went  to  Sainte- 
Marguerite  in  February,  and  was  twenty-six 
days  in  bed,   ''  with  a  continual  fever." 

Mattioli,  this  while,  supposed  at  Exiles,  lay 
close  in  Pignerol.  We  have  glimpses  of  the 
guard  that  was  kept  upon  him.  Villebois, 
chained  to  his  prisoner,  seems  never  to  have 
been  allowed  to  leave  the  dungeon.  In  such 
a  nervous  fit  as  Saint-Mars  was  almost  inces- 
santly a  prey  to,  he  wrote  to  Louvois,  asking 
to  whom  he  should  entrust  the  prisoner, 
supposing  he  were  incapacitated  by  sickness  ; 
and  Louvois  replied  :  **  To  the  person  you  can 


300         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

most  rely  on."  Even  the  priest  of  the  prison 
was  distrusted — ''Your  prisoners  are  to  be 
confessed  only  once  a  year."  Books  of 
devotion  might  be  given  to  them;  but  ''you 
are  to  take  care  they  do  not  use  them  for 
passing  notes  to  one  another."  One  night 
someone  is  suspected  of  haunting  a  bastion 
gate  of  Pignerol,  and  Villebois  is  instructed  to 
*'  do  your  utmost  to  discover  who  the  person 
was."  There  is  a  rare  effort  of  Mattioli — the 
only  one  that  records  prove — to  disclose  his 
situation :  he  writes  something  on  a  lining 
torn  from  his  pocket.  It  is  discovered,  and 
communicated  to  Versailles,  and  the  answer  is 
returned — "  You  must  burn  any  scraps  on 
which  Mattioli  has  written."  The  walls  of 
Pignerol,  and  the  road  beneath,  were  strictly 
watched  ;  the  sentinels  had  orders  to  let  no 
one  linger  about  the  gates. 

Saint-Mars,    on    his    part,   while   at    Exiles, 
had    enjoyed    a   measure    of    liberty    that    he 


t^j 


a 

(ft 


V 


S 


e 
*3 


CO 

to 

o 


B 


PRISONER    OF  CONSEQUENCE,         303 


/ 


[;' 


had    never    known    when    guarding    Mattioli 
at    Pignerol      He    went    on    little    visits    to 
d'Estrades,    to    Catinat ;    he    paid    his    court 
to    the     Duke    of    Savoy ;    he    was    allowed 
from   time   to  time  to   sleep   out  of  the  gaol. 
*' Madame    de    Saint-Mars    having    told    me/' 
writes    Louvois,  in    March,    1685,    **that   you 
wish    to   go    to   the   baths    of    Aix-en-Savoie, 
I     spoke     about    it    to    the     King,    and     his 
Majesty  commands  me  to  say  that  you  may 
absent  yourself  from    Exiles  for  that  purpose 
for    a    period    of    from    fifteen    days    to    three 
weeks."     Even    at  the    Isles,    at   first,    Saint- 
Mars   was  comparatively  at  his   ease.     ^\  The 
King  consents  to    your  taking  a  holiday  two 
days  in   the  month,  and  permits  you  to  return 
the   visit  of  the  governor  of  Nice.'*      These 
were  the  relaxations  of  the  period  when   Saint- 
Mars  had  charge  only  of  ''two  jail-birds.'* 

On   a  sudden,  the  26th  of  February,    1694, 
there    is    a    mandate    from  Versailles,    inform- 


304         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

ing  the  commandant  that  three  prisoners 
of  State  are  to  be  sent  from  Pignerol  to 
the  Isles.  The  minister*  enquires  *'if  there 
are  safe  places  to  hold  them,"  and  bids 
the  governor  make  all  needful  dispositions 
to  receive  them.  A  second  letter,  March 
the  20th,  contains  a  passage  of  capital 
significance:  **You  know  in  effect  that  they 
are  of  greater  consequence,  at  least  one, 
than  the  prisoners  now  at  the  Isles ;  and, 
preferably  to  those  others,  you  should  see 
that  they  are  lodged  in  the  most  secure 
quarter  of  the  prison.  The  courier  who 
bears  this  despatch  takes  with  him  also 
fifteen  hundred  livres  for  preliminary  ex- 
penses.'' 

Thus  was  announced  the  coming  of 
Mattioli,  with  the  two  remaining  prisoners 
of   Pignerol. 

*  This    was    Barbezieux,    the    successor    of     Louvois,    who    died 
in    1691. 


t 


K  'J 
ll 


L<i 


\f 


PRISONER    OF  CONSEQUENCE.         305 

The  great  Louis,  who  took  his  vengeances 
cruelly,  was  falling  on  his  evil  days.  The 
disruption  was  beginning  which  should  end  in 
the  cataract  of  the  Revolution.  In  Italy 
the  situation  had  been  sadly  modified  since 
the  epoch  at  which  Louis  had  first  sought 
to  treat  as  autocrat  for  the  purchase  of 
Casale.  He  no  longer  spoke  there  with  a 
master's  voice  ;  ''  his  arms  had  ceased  to 
be  ever-victorious,  and  he  was  already 
expiating  his  impolitic  and  inopportune 
intervention  in  the  affairs  of  the  Peninsula  " 
Casale  must  be  abandoned  ;  Pignerol,  too — 
that  ''  precious  acquisition  of  Richelieu,'' 
which  had  been  practically  a  French  town 
for   sixty  years. 

Mattioli  in  the  heart  of  his  dungeon  felt 
the  effects  of  the  King's  reverses.  The 
restoration  of  Pignerol  by  Louis  explains 
his  removal  to  the  Isles.  Once  more,  how- 
ever,   a  .  deep    secrecy  falls   upon    him  ;    he  is 

20 


/ 


3o6        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

never   at    this   time   alluded    to    by    name   in 
the    despatches.      "Now     more     than     ever, 
in     a     word,     was     it     imperative     to     hide 
from    the   sight    and    knowledge   of    all,    this 
victim     of    an     audacious     and      inexcusable 
violation   of  the    rights    of    men.      Europe's 
discontent   with    Louis   XIV.    was    extreme  ; 
his  interest  lay   in  appeasing  this  discontent ; 
and  in  these  circumstances  it  was  of  the  last 
importance    to    cover   with    an    impenetrable 
mystery  an   existence  which    recalled  at  once 
the   dangerous   ambition,  the  audacity,  and — 
not  less  than  these— the  humbling  of  a  great 

king." 

Never,  accordingly,  were  such  extra- 
ordinary precautions  taken  for  a  journey  of 
this  nature.  The  Marquis  d'Herleville, 
governing  the  citadel  of  Pignerol,  and  the 
Comte  de  Tesse,  commanding  the  French 
troops  in  that  place,  had  orders  "to  furnish 
the    escort,   and     the    monies    necessary    for 


it 


I 


A\\ 


i 


PRISONER    OF  CONSEQUENCE.         307 

the  expenses  of  the  road "  ;  and  it  was 
strictly  enjoined  upon  de  Tesse  **that  he 
should  not  seek  to  know  the  names  of  the 
prisoners."  A  strong  escort  was  provided  ; 
two  sure  guides  were  sent  in  advance  ;  and 
the  governor  of  the  dungeon  of  Pignerol 
went  with  the  litter  of  the  prisoners,  with 
instructions  to  let  no  one  but  himselt 
attend  on  them.  Thus  they  came  mys- 
teriously  to  the  Isles. 

In  that  litter  so  closely  escorted,  three 
prisoners  fared,  one  of  whom  was  of  greater 
consequence  than  the  others.  Now,  after  the 
death  of  Fouquet  and  the  release  of  Lauzun, 
there  was  not  at  Pignerol  any  considerable 
prisoner  save  Mattioli.  Note,  too,  that  when 
Saint-Mars  went  to  Exiles,  it  was  to 
Villebois  that  the  charge  of  Mattioli  was 
assigned — Villebois,  who  had  shared  with 
Catinat  the  mission  of  arresting  him  :  further, 

that  on  the  death  of  Villebois,  it  was  another 

20* 


3o8        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

of    Saint- Mars's     lieutenants,    Laprade,    who 
was    sent    from    the    Isles    as    governor    of 
the   dungeon   of    Pignerol.       Saint-Mars   had 
therefore    not     lost     sight     of     his     ancient 
prisoner;    he    had    been   in   touch   with   him 
throughout.      At     Exiles,     and     during     the 
first    period    of   his    command    at   the    Isles, 
Saint-Mars,     with     the      King's     permission, 
had  quitted  his  charge  when  it  pleased  him  : 
there   comes   from    Pignerol   this   prisoner   of 
consequence,      and      Saint-Mars      leaves    the 
Isles   no   more.     "From    this   moment,"  says 
Topin,     "  Saint-Mars     never     stirs    from    his 
prison."     At   this  time,  too,   Barbezieux,  who 
has     not     until      now     displayed     the    'least 
anxiety,  is  solicitous  of  knowing  what  would 
befall   at   the    Isles   should   sickness  overtake 
Saint-Mars.      New    measures     of    precaution 
are   proposed    by    Saint-Mars,    and   approved 
by     the     minister.       The     bolts      from     the 
dungeon    of    Pignerol    are    sent    to    Sainte- 


te 


I 


PRISONER    OF  CONSEQUENCE.         309 

Marguerite.  Time  does  not  weaken  this 
scrupulous  watch,  as  appears  by  the  follow- 
ing significant  despatch  from  Versailles, 
November  17th,   1697: — • 

•  *'  I  have  received  with  your  letter  of  the 
loth  of  this  month  the  copy  of  the  one 
written  you  by  Mons.  de  Ponchartrain  con- 
cerning the  prisoners  who  are  at  the  Isles  of 
Sainte-Marguerite,  in  accordance  with  the 
King's  orders,  signed  by  him  or  by  the  late 
Mons.  de  Seignelay.  You  have  simply  to 
address  yourself  to  the  safe  keeping  of  all 
the  persons  entrusted  to  you,  and  to  see 
that  no  one  ever  learns  what  your  ancient 
prisoner  has  doneT 

Can  the  words  **  your  ancient  prisoner  '* 
bear  any  meaning  save  one  :  a  prisoner  who 
was  formerly  in  your  keeping  and  who  has 
a<^ain  been  confided  to  you  ?  The  phrase 
could  not  possibly  apply  to  the  prisoner 
whom   Saint-Mars  had   brought   to  the    Isles, 


■■-*»"»^-^^ni- r  '-n-r'fiiiin 


310         THE  MAN  IN   THE  IRON  MASK, 

for  he  arrived  there  in  1687,  and  it  was 
scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  at  the  end  of 
ten  years  the  inhabitants  of  Sainte-Marguerite 
had  grown  suddenly  curious  as  to  the  cause 
of  his  detention.  But  their  curiosity  was 
natural  enough  in  respect  of  the  three  who 
had  arrived  in  the  midst  of  that  formidable 
escort,  for  whose  reception  extensive  pre- 
parations had  been  made,  and  one  at  least 
of  whom  had  been  lodged  in  the  strongest 
part  of  the  prison. 

The    passage    from    Topin    which    follows 
seems  definitely  to  clinch  the  argument: — 

**  Pignerol  was  given  up  to  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  new 
prisoners  at  the  Isles.  I  have  searched 
during  the  ten  years  (1698- 1708)  which  fol- 
lowed the  departure  of  Saint-Mars  for  the 
Bastille,  all  the  despatches  exchanged  be- 
tween Lamothe-Guerin,  his  successor  at  the 
Isles,     and    the    Court     of   Versailles.       The 


i 


'j 


% 


PRISONER   OF  CONSEQUENCE.         3" 

name  of  Mattioli  is  nowhere  to  be  found  in 
them,  nor  is  there  mention  of  any  prisoner 
of  importance  left  behind  by  Saint-Mars." 

We  know  that  MattioH  was  at  Pignerol  at 
the  end  of  1693  (only  a   few   months   before 
the   removal   of    the   three    prisoners),    for   it 
was   in   December   of  that   year — the    27th — 
that  the  minister   was  in  communication  with 
Laprade  about  the  prisoner's  attempt  to  write 
something  on  the  lining  of  his  clothes.     The 
three  who  were  transferred  in   1694  were  all 
old    prisoners    of     Saint- Mars,    and    Mattioli 
alone  among  them   possessed   any   considera- 
tion.    When,   therefore,   Saint-Mars  is  strictly 
bidden    to    keep    from    everyone    the   know- 
ledge  of  "what    your    ancient    prisoner    has 
done,"   there  is    but   one   conclusion   to  draw 
—that   the    reference   is   to   the   affair    which 
Versailles  continued   to    call    "the   treason   of 
Count  Mattioli." 


\ 


312 


THE  SILVER  DISH. 


313 


CHAPTER    IX. 


The 


Both  at  the  Isles  and  in  the 
Silver  Bastille,  the  life  of  Mattioli — if 
^^^^'  life  it  may  be  called — seems  to 
have  been  as  wretched,  as  inexpressibly 
blank,  as  in  the  dungeon  of  Pignerol. 
The  despatches  say  nothing  more  of  mad- 
ness ;  but,  by  the  time  he  came  to  the 
Isles,  Mattioli  had  suffered  during  fifteen 
years  a  form  of  captivity  which  might  have 
shattered,  and  which  must  certainly  have 
enfeebled,  the  very  strongest  intellect.  One 
of  the  most  grievous  pains  of  imprisonment 
under  the  old  regime  must  have  been  the 
total  lack  of  profitable  or  engaging  employ- 
ment.      The   tasks   of   prison,    during   a  long 


•  n 


\ 


sentence     of    penal     servitude,     are      seldom 
cheerful,  and  cannot  but  be  monotonous  ;  but 
they  do    at    least    fill    the   greater    portion    of 
the    convict's    life,    they    stay    his    mind    from 
too    much   brooding,    and     they    offer    to    in- 
dustry  a  means   of  climbing  from   an   inferior 
to  a  higher  class.     But  the  prisoners  of  State 
under    the    French    monarchy    had    no   tasks, 
and    could    only   with    difficulty    create   their 
occupations   or    their    recreations.       And    the 
history    of    Mattioli    is     desolate    above    the 
average.      If  his    mind  were   not  dead   within 
him,   his  existence    during    all    those   years    is 
terrible    to    contemplate.      Guiding    ourselves 
solely  by    the  light  of  proved  despatches,  re- 
jecting  absolutely   all    such    evidence   as   will 
not  stand  that  test,   we  find   scarcely  a  trace 
of  solace  or  relief  in   that  protracted    martyr- 
dom.      A    few    **  books   of  devotion,"   grudg- 
ingly doled  out ;  the  yearly  visit  of  a  priest : 
that    IS    all.       In    this    respect,    as  in    others, 


,/ 


314 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


THE  SILVER  DISH. 


315 


the  history   of    Mattioli   is    nearly   without   a 
parallel.      Of  how   many    prisoners   of    State 
is   it    recorded     that,     during    a    captivity  of 
years,  they   neither   found   nor  were   granted 
any  means  of  softening  the  unutterable  soli- 
tude of  prison  ?       Fouquet    read    and    wrote ; 
procured  herbs  and  plants  from  the  hills,  and 
dabbled  in  pharmacy ;  and  was  at  last  united 
to  his  family.       Mirabeau  in  Vincennes   com- 
posed  that  devastating  essay    on   Lettres   de 
Cachet    which   foreshadowed   the    Revolution. 
Conde    cultivated    pinks.      Cardinal   de    Retz 
played      chess,     and     received     his     friends. 
Trenck  carved  scrolls  and  mottoes  on  his  cups. 
Voltaire    polished   verses.     Pellisson's    spider 
is  famed.     Latude  and  others  tamed  pigeons, 
rats,  and  mice.     Bunyan  and  Cervantes  found 
an  immortality   in  the  dungeon.     The  annals 
of  the  Bastille  embrace  one  dainty  love  affair, 
that   of  Mdlle.    de    Launay   (the   Madame  de 
Staal  that  should  be)  and  the  young  Chevalier 


I. 


de  Menil.  Diderot  in  v  l-^ennes  received" 
the  visits  of  Rousseau  and  D'Alembert,  and 
talked  Plato  and  Socrates  with  them  in  the 
garden.  In  days  near  our  own,  Louis 
Napoleon  called  the  fortress  of  Ham  his 
University.  Even  in  the  prisons  of  Russia, 
within  the  stretch  of  recent  memory,  prisoners 
of  both  sexes  have  contrived  to  communicate 
freely    by    means    of  a  pre-arranged  code   of 


raps. 


But  between  Mattioli  and  all  the  living, 
the  gulf  is  absolute.  Four-and-twenty  years 
revolve  for  him  in  a  silence  almost  un- 
broken. Intellect  and  the  "life  of  life  in 
the  heart"  must  staunch  and  be  swallowed 
up  in  that  appalling  and  incredible  sterility 
of  existence.  Time  scarcely  modifies  in  any 
degree  the  pitiless  character  of  his  captivity. 
During  four-and-twenty  years  he  seems  not 
to  have  seen  one  friendly  face ;  and  it  is 
almost    certain     that     not     a    message    ever 


3i6         THE  MAN  IN  TBE  IRON  MASK. 

reached    him  from    the    world    which    he    had 

lost. 

One  dav  in  those  loathed  seats  was  the 
pattern  of  all.  Saint-Mars  has  left  us  in  a 
letter  to  Barbezieux  a  precise  account  of  the 
manner  in  which,  when  he  was  ill  or  other- 
wise engaged,   his   lieutenants    waited   on    the 

prisoners  : — • 

" The  first  of  my  lieutenants, 

who   takes    the    keys    of    the    prison    ot    my 

ancient  prisoner^    with    whom    we  commence, 

opens    the    three   doors    and   goes    in.     The 

prisoner    politely    hands    him    the    plates    and 

dishes,  laid  one  on  another,  and  the  lieutenant 

has  only    to    pass   through  two  doors  to  give 

them  to  one  of  my  sergeants,  who  places  them 

on  a  table  two  steps  away,  where  is  the  second 

lieutenant,    who     examines     everything     that 

comes  into    and   goes    out    of  the  prison,  and 

sees    that    nothing   has   been    written    on   any 

of  the    vessels.     After    they    have    given    him 


I 


THE  SILVER  DISH. 


317 


\ 


the  utensil,  they  make  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  the  bed,  then  of  the  gratings  and 
windows  of  the  room ;  and  very  often  the 
prisoner  himself  is  searched.  After  enquiring 
civilly  whether  he  wants  anything,  they  lock 
the    doors,  and  visit   the    other    prisoners    in 

like  manner." 

The  "ancient  prisoner,"  Mattioli,  is  here 
in  the  strictest  solitary  confinement,  and  it 
is  evident  that  these  perfunctory  visits  of 
Saint-Mars  or  his  lieutenant— with  the 
humiliating  accompaniment  of  the  daily  search 
— represent  his  sole  intercourse  with  his 
fellow-men.  An  existence  so  barren,  so 
deadly  drear,  as  that  of  a  Mattioli  or  a 
Prisoner  of  Chlllon,  may  be  a  fit  theme  for 
tragic  poetry,  but  is  of  little  service  to  the 
makers  of  romance.  Fable  accordingly  has 
always  been  extremely  busy  with  this  prisoner 
of  Saint-Mars,  who  was  for  generations  the 
most  mysterious  creature  in  history.     Things 


li^ 


318         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

true  or  partly  true  of  other  prisoners  have 
grouped  themselves  around  his  memory  ; 
other  things  speak  only  for  the  imagination 
of  their  inventors.  The  legend  of  the  silver 
dish  (which  includes  Papon's  variation)  be- 
longs to  the  period  of  Sainte-Marguerite. 
Already  referred  to,  it  has  a  foundation  in 
fact,  but  does  not  touch  the  history  of  the 
Mask.  The  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  in  1685,  had  filled  the  prisons  of 
Louis  XIV.  with  those  French  Protestants 
and  their  clergy  who  had  not  fled  the 
country ;  and  many  ministers  of  the  proscribed 
faith  were  sent  from  time  to  time  to  Sainte- 
Marguerite.  It  was  through  one  of  these 
prisoners  for  his  faith  that  the  tale  of  the 
''  silver  dish ''  arose.  A  certain  Salves,  un- 
known to  history  in  any  other  relation,  is  the 
source  it  traces  from.  Along  with  a  com- 
panion unnamed.  Salves  fell  in  trouble  with 
Saint-Mars,     who,     in     accordance    with     his 


THE  SILVER  DISH, 


3'9 


i 


\j 


invariable  rule,  posted  the  matter  to  Ver- 
sailles. Nothing  escaped  Saint-Mars;  for 
what  he  did  not  see  his  lieutenants  did  not 
dare  to  withhold   from  him;  and  all  went  in 

detail  to  the  King. 

"  The  first  of  the  Protestant  ministers  who 
have  been  sent  here,"  he  wrote  (June  4th, 
1692),  "sings  psalms  night  and  day  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  to  let  it  be  known  who  and 
what  he  is.  I  forbade  him  several  times,  on 
pain  of  punishment;  and  I  have  had  to 
punish  him  at  last.  I  have  taken  'a  similar 
course  with  his  comrade  Salves,  who  has  a 
mania  for  scribbling,  and  who  has  written 
things  on  his  pewter  vessels  and  on  his  linen, 
to  publish  it    that   he   is   imprisoned   unjustly 

for  his  religion." 

Out  of  this  petty  memorandum  from  the 
gaoler  to  the  minister  two  writers  have 
furnished  the  most  sensational  incident  in 
the    legend    of   the    Iron    Mask.      Voltaire's 


320         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

fisherman  came  off  with  his  life,  it  is  true  : 
Pere  Papon's  monk  did  not;  and  there  are 
so  few  points  at  which  the  memory  of 
Saint-Mars  makes  appeal  to  us  that  it  is 
grateful  to  spare  him  the  charge  of  that 
imaginary  murder. 

With  the  story  of  the  silver  dish  is  linked, 
in  the  popular  fancy,  the  story  of  the  laces 
and  fine  linen.  There  is  not  a  hint  of 
this  in  the  despatches,  and  nothing  that 
Saint-Mars  omits  to  mention  is  to  be 
received  ;  for  he  is  little  less  than  childish 
in  his  incessant  appeals  to  Versailles  on 
every  point  that  concerns  even  the  obscurest 
of  his  prisoners.  It  is  a  corollary  of  Voltaire's 
libel  on  Anne  of  Austria,  but  it  has  not  the 
basis  even  of  that  remote  history  of  the  silver 
dish.  A  solitary  figment  of  Voltaire,  it  goes 
with  the  rest  of  his  invention.  The  first 
order  of  Louis  XIV.  will  be  remembered,  that 
Mattioli    should    have    nothing    **  except    the 


THE  SILVER   DISH. 


32T 


(i 


absolute  necessaries  of  life " — among  which 
it  is  improbable  that  either  Louis  or  Louvois 
would  include   the  frills  and  laces  of  the  age. 

Point  by  point,  what  is  legendary  in  the 
record  of  the  Mask  gives  place  to  history. 
Tradition  has  found  him  with  a  guitar,  and 
old  prints  depict  it  ;  but  every  picture  of 
the  Man  in  the  Mask  is  a  fantasy,  and 
no  guitar  passed  unsanctioned  into  any 
prison  of  Saint- Mars. 

To  the  fifteen  disintegrating  years  in 
Pignerol  were  joined  four  at  the  Isles  of 
Sainte-Marguerite  ;  day  yielding  ever  to 
night  in  the  prisoner's  life  through  all  that 
tragic  cycle.  And  fate  had  not  yet  done 
with  him. 


^^ 


21 


iMiMBM^>- 


322 


CHAPTER    X. 


The  Mask 


comes 


On     the     first     of      March,      1698, 
Saint-Mars  received   from    Versailles 
to  the     the     offer     of     the   government     of 

Bastille.        , 

the  Bastille.  The  salary  was  rich, 
the  office  one  of  trust  and  dignity,  and 
Paris  was  Paris  :  Saint- Mars  accepted  the 
offer  at  once.  Nothing  further  passed  until 
the  17th  of  June,  when  Barbezieux  wrote 
again  from   Versailles  : — 

"  I  have  been  long  in  answering  your 
letter  of  the  8th  of  last  month,  as  the  King 
had  not  explained  his  intentions  to  me.  I 
am  now  to  inform  you  that  his  Majesty 
is  pleased  at  your  acceptance  ot  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Bastille.  You  can  have 
everything    in    train     to    be    ready    to    start 


(I 


( 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.    323 

when  you  receive  the  final  word  ;  and 
bring  with  you  in  all  security  your  ancient 
prisoner. 

**  I  have  arranged  with  Mons.  Saumery 
to  give  you  two  thousand  crowns  for  the 
transport  of  your  effects." 

On  the  19th  of  July  there  came  a  third 
despatch  from  Barbezieux,  confirming  what 
had  gone  before,  and  emphasising  the 
importance  of  guarding  the  prisoner  on  the 
journey  ''  in  such  a  manner  that  he  shall 
be  seen  by  no  one.*'  Two  months  later, 
in  the  middle  of  September,  when  the  days 
were  shortening,  Saint-Mars  set  out  with 
him  to  traverse  the  whole  of  France.  At 
this  point  the  reflection  arises  that  had  the 
affair   of  the    Mask    been    a    scandal   of   the 


Court,  and  the  prisoner 
features  revealed  a  royal 
have  been  strangely  and 
dent    to    bring    him    to    a 


a    person    whose 

origin,    it    would 

curiously    impru- 

dungeon    in    the 
21* 


/, 


/ 


324        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

heart  of  Paris— where  chance  might  so  much 
more  easily  discover  him  than  in  that  dis- 
tant fastness  lapped  by  the  Sea  of  Provence. 
There  could  be  no  grave  reason  why  the 
Italian  Mattioli  should  not  be  carried  to 
the  Bastille  ;  there  was  every  prudent  reason 
of  State  why  a  brother  of  the  King  should 
not  be  carried  there.  But,  as  we  shall 
see,  it  was  unquestionably  the  Man  in 
the  Mask  who  made  the  journey  with  Saint- 
Mars. 

A  glance  at  the  map  of  France  will  show 

what    a    journey   this    was     at     the    jog-trot 

pace    of    the    litter.       No    detailed    itinerary 

exists,  but  we  know  where  the  principal  halt 

was    made.      In    the    central    department    of 

Yonne  is  the  town  of  Villeneuve-le-Roi,  once 

called    the     Ante-room    of    the    Popes,    now 

desolate  and  lifeless.     Near  Villeneuve  is  the 

chateau  of  Palteau,    a   property  belonging  to 

Saint-Mars,    and    here    he    halted     with    his 


f 


4> 


«> 
U 


a 


4> 

>% 

■ 

CO 

Si* 


\v 


V   -  , 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE,     327 

prisoner.  *  Reference  has  been  made  in  the 
Introduction  to  the  letter  of  M.  de  For- 
manoir  de  Palteau,  grand-nephew  of  Saint- 
Mars,  in  which  this  episode  is  described. 
The  letter,   bearing  date  June   19,    1768,   was 


'> 


f)< 


*  Saint-Mars  was  not  the  man  to  loiter  on  the  road,  with  a  prisoner 
of  State  in  his  keeping,  and  it  is  unlikely  that  the  stay  at  Palteau  ex- 
ceeded a  night  or  two.  But  wherever  the  Masked  Man  came  legend 
laid  hold  upon  his  memory,  and  Villeneuve-le-Roi  has  appropriated 
him.  There  is  in  Villeneuve  a  vast  old  ruined  fort,  with  castellated 
drum-towers,  and  cells  and  chambers  in  abundance.  Now  Saint-Mars 
and  the  Mask  would  probably  take  Villeneuve  on  their  way  to  Palteau  ; 
at  all  events,  that  close-guarded  litter,  watched  with  an  awful  wonder 
from  Provence  to  Paris,  must  have  passed  very  near.  What  more  apt 
than  to  imagine  for  the  Mask  a  period  of  captivity  in  the  fort  of  Vil- 
leneuve-le-Roi !  It  has  been  done.  In  a  pleasant  volume  of  wander- 
ings, "  In  the  Rhone  Valley,"  Mr.  Charles  W.  Wood  tells  how  he  was 
shown  the  cell  by  a  nun,  as  her  pihe  de  resistance,  "  Most  interesting 
of  all  was  a  small  remote  doorway,  and  the  nun  looked  wonderfully 
picturesque  as  she  bent  down  and  applied  the  key  to  the  lock,  her  black 
graceful  dress  standing  out  in  strange  contrast  with  the  ancient  and 
splendid  masonry.  Then  she  threw  open  the  door  and  we  entered  a 
dark  circular  chamber  that  was  half  cell.  In  tones  that  thrilled  her 
hearers  and  echoed  in  the  roof,  she  said :  *  This  is  the  room  in 
which  the  Man  with  the  Iron  Mask  was  confined,  before  he  was 
taken  to  another  and  more  open  part  of  the  fort.'"  Mr.  Wood, 
accepting  the  statement  in  good  faith,  adds:  **We  almost  felt  on 
sacred  ground." 


328         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

addressed  to  Freron,  of  the  Annee  Litteraire, 
and  published  in   the   issue   of  June  30. 

''  In  1698,  "  writes  M.  de  Palteau,  "  M.  de 
Saint-Mars  passed  from  the  charge  of  the 
Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite  to  that  of  the 
Bastille.  On  his  way,  he  stayed  with  his 
prisoner  on  his  estate  at  Palteau.  The  Man 
in  the  Mask  came  in  a  litter  which  preceded 
that  of  M.  de  Saint-Mars  ;  they  were 
accompanied  by  several  men  on  horseback. 
The  peasants  went  to  greet  their  lord  ; 
M.  de  Saint-Mars  took  his  meals  with  his 
prisoner,  who  was  placed  with  his  back  to 
the  windows  of  the  dining-room  which  over- 
looked the  courtyard.  The  peasants  whom 
I  questioned  could  not  see  whether  he  wore 
his  mask  while  eating,  but  they  took  note  of 
the  fact  that  M.  de  Saint-Mars,  who  sat 
opposite  to  him,  kept  a  pair  of  pistols  beside 
his  plate.  They  were  waited  on  by  one 
man-servant,    who    fetched    the     dishes    from 


/ 


.\ 


\ 


THE    MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.     329 

the  ante-room  where  they  were  brought  to 
him,  taking  care  to  close  behind  him  the 
door  of  the  dining-room.  When  the  prisoner 
crossed  the  courtyard,  he  aways  wore  the 
black  mask  ;  the  peasants  noticed  that  his 
teeth  and  lips  showed  through  it  ;  *  also 
that  he  was  tall  and  had  white  hair.  M.  de 
Saint-Mars  slept  in  a  bed  close  to  that  of  the 
masked   man." 

There  could  be  nothing  simpler  than  this 
statement.  The  writer  has  no  hypothesis  of 
his  own,  and  no  leaning  towards  any  other 
hypothesis.  He  is  content  to  report  what  he 
had  learned  by  word  of  mouth  from  the  old 
people  on  the  estate  who  had  actually  seen  the 
prisoner  in  the  mask  at  Palteau.f  The  detail 
of  chief  importance  in  the  account  is  the  mask  ; 

*  Clearly,  the  little  velvet  half-mask  which  may  be  seen  to-day  at 
any  bal  masque  in  Carnival. 

t  The  chateau  of  Palteau  still  stands  where  it  did.  The  dining-hall 
in  which  Saint-Mars  faced  his  prisoner,  with  pistols  by  his  side,  is 
now,  says  M.  Funck-Brentano,  a  kitchen. 


k 


x_ 


330         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

and  this  is  verified  by  the  entry  in  Du  Junca's 
journal,  when  the  veiled  prisoner  arrives  at  the 
Bastille.     We  have  kept  touch  of  this  prisoner 
so  far,  and  have  found  under  his  velvet  mask 
no  features  but  those  of  Mattioli.     A  prisoner 
of  particular  consequence  is   transferred   from 
Pignerol   to  the   Isles,  and  at  the  date  of  his 
removal  there  is  only  Mattioli  of  consequence 
in  that  prison.      His   name  ceases,  but  he   is 
identified  with  the  **  ancient  prisoner''  of  sub- 
sequent despatches.     This  *' ancient  prisoner'' 
is  the  one  whom   Saint-Mars  is  instructed  to 
carry   from    the    Isles   to    the    Bastille.       The 
prisoner  alights  at   Palteau,  and  it  is  observed 
by  the  peasants  on  the  estate  that  he  wears  a 
mask.     The  journey  ends  at  the  Bastille  ;  and 
Du  Junca,  the  King's  Lieutenant  of  the  prison, 
notes  in    his  journal  that  the  prisoner   whom 
Saint-Mars  brings  from  the  Isles  is  an  ancient 
prisoner  whom   he  had  at   Pignerol,  and  that 
he  is  masked.     Even  in  the  Paris  of  that  day 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE,     331 

the  use  of  the  mask  was  not  unknown  ;  but 
there  is  absolutely  no  other  instance  in  French 
history  of  its  employment  to  conceal  the 
identity  of  a  prisoner  :  hence  the  naive  wonder 
which    may    be    read    between    the    lines    ot 

Du  Junca's  entry. 

This  note  in  the  register  or  journal  kept  by 
the  King's  Lieutenant  of  the  Bastille  is,  as 
M.  Funck-Brentano  observes,  **  the  origin  and 
foundation  of  all  that  has  been  printed  on  the 
question  of  the  Iron  Mask."  The  journal  itself 
(the  original  is  in  the  Arsenal  Library)  is  the 
work  of  an  unlettered  official  who  spells 
atrociously,  and  knows  nothing  of  punctua- 
tion. When  a  new  prisoner  was  received 
Du  Junca  wrote  down  the  particulars  of  his 
coming,  and  the  first  of  the  entries  with  which 
this  history  is  concerned  is  as  follows,  in  a 
translation  as  literal  as  possible. 

**  On  Thursday,  i8th  September  (1698),  at 
three  in  the  afternoon,  M.  de  Saint-Mars,  go- 


332         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

vernor  of  the  chateau  of  the  Bastille,  presented 
himself  for  the  first  time,  coming  from  his 
government  of  the  Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite- 
Honorat,  having  with  him  in  his  litter  a  pri- 
soner who  was  formerly  in  his  keeping  at  Pig- 
nerol,  whom  he  caused  to  be  always  masked, 
whose  name  is  not  mentioned  :  on  descending 
from  the  litter,  he  had  him  placed  in  the  first 
chamber  of  the  Baziniere  tower,  waiting  until 
night  for  me  to  take  him,  at  nine  o'clock,  and 
put  him  with  M.  de  Rosarges,  one  of  the  ser- 
geants brought  by  the  governor,  alone  in  the 
third  chamber  of  the  Bertaudiere  tower,  which 
I  had  had  duly  furnished  some  days  before  his 
arrival,  by  order  of  M.  de  Saint-Mars  :  the 
aforesaid  prisoner  will  be  served  and  seen  to 
by  M.  de  Rosarges,  and  maintained  by  the 
governor/' 

Such  is  the  famous  entry  which  records  the 
coming  of  the  Mask  to  the  Bastille.  He 
passed    in    there   as    mysteriously   as    he    had 


Entry  in  the  Register  of  the  Bastille. 

By  the  courtesy  of  Messrs,  Downey  and  Co, 


^Wb'* 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE,     335 

entered  Pignerol  nineteen  years  earlier,  and 
the  Isles  in  1694.  That  the  staff  of  the  Bastille 
had  not  the  least  idea  who  he  was  is  rendered 
certain  by  the  names  he  received  from  them. 
He  was  *'  the  Prisoner  from  Provence/'  most 
often  ;  sometimes  **  the  ancient  prisoner  "-^ 
the  term  so  closely  identified  with  Mattioli. 
It  is  clear  that  at  first  his  isolation  was 
as  rigorous  as  it  had  ever  been.  Rosarges 
alone  waited  on  him.  No  fellow-prisoner 
shared  his  captivity  in  the  third  chamber 
of  the  Bertaudiere  tower.  What  tales 
would  filter  through  the  Bastille,  what 
fables  would  begin  to  grow  around  him, 
even  while  he  sat  there — the  unknown  who 
wore  the  mask ! 

But  time  was  passing  even  for  the  Man 
in  the  Mask.  Casale  was  no  longer 
French  ;  the  negotiations  which  had  issued 
so  fatefully  for  Mattioli  were  old  history ; 
the     whole     affair     was     out     of     mind :     its 


X 


336         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

importance  had  utterly  ceased.  Note  how 
this  affected  the  Mask  in  1701,  twenty-two 
years  after  he  had  been  thrown  into  Pignerol. 
No  pardon  came  for  him,  nor  was  he  granted 
the  ease  in  his  dungeon  which  was  allowed 
at  last  to  Fouquet.  His  fate  was  infinitely 
more  pitiful;  he  fell  from  his  estate  in  the 
prison,  he  was  degraded  among  the  com- 
monest of  the  Bastille's  inmates. 

He  had  been  confined  in  the  third  chamber 
of  the  Bertaudiere  tower.  From  this  he  was 
removed,  the  6th  of  March,  1701,  to  make 
room  for  one  Anne  Randon,  *Mevineresse 
et  diseuse  de  bonne  fortune,'*  witch  and  for- 
tune-teller:  the  Man  in  the  Mask  displaced 
by  a  common  sorceress!  He  was  then  put 
by  Du  Junca,  whose  Journal  is  the  authority, 
into  *'the  second  Bertaudiere,"  which  he 
shared  with  a  certain  Thirmont  or  Tirmont. 
This  man,  embastilled  in  July,  [700,  had 
been  a  domestic   servant  ;  he   was  only   nine- 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.     337 

teen  years  of  age,  and  had  been  accused  of 
atheism  and  black  magic,  and  of  corrupting 
young  girls  :  quite  an  ordinary  type  of  the 
rogue  and  charlatan  of  the  age.  Some  six 
weeks  later  these  two  were  joined  by  a 
third  prisoner.  The  entry  is  in  Du  Junca's 
Journal.  ''  Saturday,  April  30,  at  about  nine 
in  the  evening,  M.  Aumont  the  younger 
came,  bringing  with  him  and  handing  over 
to  us  a  prisoner  named  M.  Maranville,  but 
calling  himself  Ricarville,  formerly  an  officer 
in  the  army,  a  malcontent,  a  tattler,  and  a 
rake  ;  whom  I  received  by  the  King's  orders, 
sent  through  the  Comte  de  Pontchartrain, 
and  placed  with  the  man  Tirmont,  in  the 
second  chamber  of  the  Bertaudiere  tower, 
along. with  the  ancient  prisoner,  both  being 
under  lock  and  key." 

The    Bastille   of  this    date   held   accommo- 
dation  tor   no  more  than  forty-two   prisoners, 

separately  confined.      In    1701    it   was   exces- 

22 


338        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 
sively   full,   and   three   prisoners   were  locked 
into    one     chamber:    the     servant    Tirmont ; 
MaranviUe  alias  Ricarville,  whom  the  pohce  re- 
port described  as  "  of  a  beggarly  appearance     ; 
and  the  Man  in  the  Mask.     In  October,  1708, 
MaranviUe    was    sent    from    the    Bastdle    to 
Charenton  prison,    where   he   died.      Tirmont 
was   transferred   in    December,    1701.    to    the 
horrible    Bicetre,     half-prison,    half-madhouse. 
He  became  insane  two  years  later,  and  d.ed 

in  1709-  .        •        ^f 

Now,   for   a   moment,   let   this   situation   of 

the  Mask,  cheek  by  jowl  with  this  sorry 
pair  be  considered  in  the  light  of  the 
Legend.  It  is  an  awkward  situation  for  the 
Legend !      The    prisoner   has   been    immured 

:.,  o    Qprlnsion  the    strictest 
twenty-two  years,  in  a   seclusion 

and  most  cruel,  his  name  and  his  identity 
withheld  from  everyone,  for  the  reason  that  he 
is  the  depository  of  some  tremendous  secret 
of  the  State.      He  has  been  hidden  under  a 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE,      339 

mask  all  this  time,  because,  forsooth,  if  he 
were  not  so  disguised,  he  would  be  recog- 
nised as  the  brother  of  Louis  XIV.  And  lo ! 
this  holder  of  the  dread  secret,  this  royal 
twin  or  bastard  who  so  fatally  resembles  the 
King,  is  suddenly  sent  to  keep  company  with 
two  gaol-birds  of  the  Bastille.  The  prison 
becomes  crowded,  a  lady  in  trouble  for 
telling  fortunes  is  among  the  new  arrivals  ; 
and  of  so  much  greater  consequence  is  she 
than  this  redoubtable  prisoner  who  has  been 
under  seal  for  two-and-twenty  years,  that  his 
room  in  the  Bertaudiere  is  immediately 
assigned  to  her.  The  fortune-teller  has  the 
dignity  of  a  separate  chamber ;  the  Mask  is 
thrust  in  with  the  lackey  Tirmont,  and 
MaranviUe  presently  makes  a  third.  The 
two  common  fellows  are  bye-and-bye  moved 
from  the  Bastille — having  had  the  fullest  op- 
portunity  of  learning  and   disseminating   that 

stupendous  secret.     This  is  not  a  little  curious 

22* 


/ 


340 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 


—considered    in     the    light    of    the    Legend. 
What,  indeed,  becomes  of  the  Legend  ? 

But  if  the  reader  is  with  us  in  this  inquiry, 
with  Delort  and  Topin  and  M.  Funck- 
Brentano,  this  dech'ne  in  importance  of  the 
prisoner  who  had  hitherto  been  all-important 
has  already  received  its  explanation.  With 
the  lapse  of  time,  the  man  and  the  political 
intrigue  he  had  been  concerned  in  had  quite 
ceased  to  be  of  consequence  to  anybody. 
Mattioli  had  no  secret  to  reveal.  Should 
he  divulge  the  affair  of  Casale  ?  No  one  at 
that  date  would  have  been  a  penny  the 
worse.  Should  he  speak  of  his  long  and 
torturing  captivity  ?  Alas  !  captivities  as  harsh 
as  his  were  none  so  rare  at  that  era:  pity 
indeed  the  tale  might  excite  ;  it  could  excite 
no  extreme  degree  of  wonder.  In  fine,  at 
the  epoch  of  1701  the  prisoner  of  the  Mask 
had  nothing  to  communicate  which  could 
disturb    for     an    instant   the    repose    of    Ver- 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.     341 

sailles  ; — and  they  suffered  him  to  sink  to  the 
level  of  those  vulgar  delinquents  who  passed 
in  and  out  of  the  Bastille. 

This  fact,  which  we  owe  to  M.  Funck- 
Brentano's  scrutiny  of  the  Journal  of  Du 
Junca,  disposes  of  the  interesting  tale  that, 
after  the  prisoner's  death,  everything  in  his 
room  was  burned,  ''  linen,  clothes,  cushions  and 
counterpanes ''  ;  the  flooring  taken  up  and 
the  walls  scraped  and  whitewashed  again. 
We  have  just  seen  his  room  in  the  occu- 
pation of  the  adventuress  Randon,  which 
would  be  upon  the  order  of  Saint-Mars  ; 
and  that  heedful  man  is  not  at  all  concerned 
to  know  whether  his  prisoner — who  may 
henceforth  be  shifted  anywhere — has  left 
behind  him  any  trace  of  his  identity.  Were 
this  anything  but  fiction,  it  would  be  found 
in  Du  Junca.  He  is  a  Pepys  in  minuteness 
whenever  he  finds  matter  for  his  pen  ;  his 
details    of    the   prisoner's   death    in    1703    are 


342         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

precise,   but     he    has    nothing    else    to    tell. 
If,  after  the  prisoner's  death,  his  cell  had  been 
even    whitewashed,    we   should    have   learned 
it  from  Du  Junca,  who  wrote  everything  that 
came    to   his   knowledge,    but    with    no   more 
notion   than    Pepys   that   he   was    writing   for 
posterity.     The  story,  in  fact,  traces,  through 
Pere    Griffet,    to    a     Major    of   the    Bastille, 
Chevalier  by   name,   who  did  not  come  upon 
the  scene  until  1749-    For  many  years  it  was 
accepted,  but   it  vanishes   in   the   search-light 
of    M.    Funck-Brentano,  and    is    now  but   an 
item  of  the    Legend.     It   is   self-evident   that 
there  was  no  motive  for  destroying  the  traces 
of  a  prisoner  who,  two  years  before  his  death, 
had  been  given  ample  opportunity  to   reveal 
himself,  and  who  was  thenceforth  insignificant. 
This  tragedy  was  now  very  near  its  closing 
scene.     So  far  as  records  are   concerned,  the 
two    remaining    years     are    blank ;    and   the 
imagination     does     not    willingly    attempt   to 


\ 


/ 


>ll 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.     343 

re-create    them.      For   the   spectacle     of    the 
Mask  degraded  from  his  eminence  of  mystery 
cast   unregarded    among   the   coarser    tenants 
of  his    dungeon,    affects   the    mind,  perhaps, 
even   more  painfully  than   the  vision   of  him, 
solitary   in    his   Alpine   cell,   or   vainly    inter- 
rogating  the   waters  of    the    Isles  ;    narrowly 
surveyed,     the     veritable    prisoner   of    State. 
Hope  must  have   fled   him  for  years  ;  we  do 
not   find   him   petitioning  Louis,  or  appealing 
to  Charles   of  Mantua:    he   sat  "with   close- 
lipped  patience,"  or,  if  patience  had  not  found 
him,  it  were  better  to  know  nothing  of  what 
passed  within  that  lonely  brain. 

Under  date  of  the  19th  of  November, 
1703,  Du  Junca  wrote,  in  the  Register  which 
he  reserved  for  entries  of  the  death  or 
liberation  of  prisoners  of  the  Bastille  *  :  — 

^'""'The  same  day,  November  19th,  1703.  the 
prisoner    unknown,     masked    always    with    a 

*  The  translation  is  as  literal  as  is  possible. 


344         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IKON  MASK, 


mask  of  black  velvet,  whom  M.  de  Saint- 
Mars,  the  governor,  brought  with  him  from 
the  Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite,  and  whom  he 
had  had  for  a  long  time,  happening  to  be 
rather  unwell  yesterday  on  coming  from  mass,  ' 
died  this  day  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  without  having  had  any  serious 
illness  ;  indeed  it  could  not  have  been  slighter. 
M.  Giraut,  our  chaplain,  confessed  him  yes- 
terday, and  is  surprised  at  his  death.  He 
did  not  receive  the  sacrament,  and  our 
chaplain  exhorted  him  a  moment  before  he 
died.  ^And  this  unknown  prisoner,  confined 
so  long  a  time,  was  buried  on  Tuesday  at 
four  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  cemetery  of 
St.  Paul,  our  parish ;  on  the  register  of 
burial  he  was  given  a  name  also  unknown. 
M.  de  Rosarges,  major,  and  Arreil,  surgeon, 
signed  the  register." 

A   marginal  note    to  the  left    of  the    entry 
ran   as  ibllows  : — 


\ 


\ 


L^ 


/• 


^H^ 


Entry  in  the  Register  of  Saint  Paul's. 

By  the  courtesy  of  Messrs.  Downey  and  Co. 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE.    347 

"  I  have  since  learnt  that  he  was  named 
on  the  register  M.  de  Marchiel,  and  that  the 
burial  cost  40  livres." 

The  entry  in  the  register  of  Saint  Paul's, 
discovered   later,  reads  : — 

<'On  the  19th  (1703)  Marchioly,  aged 
forty-five  or  thereabouts,  died  in  the  Bastille, 
whose  body  was  buried  in  the  churchyard 
of  St.  Paul,  his  parish,  the  20th  of  this 
month,  in  the  presence  of  M.  Rosage  {sic), 
major  of  the  Bastille,  and  M.  Reglhe  {sic) 
surgeon   major  of  the  Bastille,  who  signed.— 

"  Signed :  Rosarges,  Reilhe." 


The  written  names  in  the  entry  are 
examples  of  the  slovenly,  inaccurate  spelling 
of  the  age.  The  person  who  sets  them 
down  is  ignorant  even  of  the  names  of  the 
two  officers  of  the  Bastille  by  whom  his 
register    is    signed :    Rosarges    is   "  Rosage," 


/ 


348         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

Reilhe  is  "  Reglhe/^  *^  Marchioly  ^'  is  re- 
markably close  to  Mattioli  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  Saint-Mars  would  probably 
have  given  the  name  by  wo*-d  of  mouth  ; 
it  is  still  closer  if  he  spoke  it,  as  he  often 
wrote  it  in  his  despatches — ''  Martioly  "  in- 
stead of  Mattioli.  In  the  despatches  of 
Louvois  it  is  sometimes  ''  Marthioly/'  which, 
with  the  difference  of  a  letter,  is  the  name 
on  the  register.  In  others,  it  is  ''  Matioli,*' 
''  Matheoli,"  &c.  All  proper  names  were 
stumbling-blocks  to  the  writers  of  despatches 
in  that  era  ;  whether  educated  like  Louvois, 
half-educated  like  Saint-Mars,  or  as  totally 
unlettered  as  Du  Junca. 

The  age  assigned  to  the  prisoner,  ''forty- 
five  or  thereaboiUSy'  instances  again  the  utter 
indifference  and  lack  of  care  with  which 
these  entries  were  made.  Probably,  how- 
ever, no  one  in  the  Bastille,  not  even  Saint- 
Mars,   knew    Mattioli's   age.      Born    in    1640, 


THE  MASK  COMES  TO  THE  BASTILLE,     349 

he  was  sixty-three  at  the  date  of  his  death. 
According  to  Delort,  he  told  the  apothecary 
of  the  Bastille  that  he  was  sixty ;  a  close 
guess  for  one  who  had  lost  count  of  time  for 
near  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

So  fades  and  vanishes  that  tragic  figure. 


350 


CHAPTER    XI. 

If  there  had  been  no  mask  in 
^'  ^'  ^'  the  case  ?  The  fascination  of  the 
history  has  centred  there.  Had  Saint-Mars 
not  carried  his  prisoner  from  the  Isles  to  the 
Bastille  in  that  provoking  domino,  his  story, 
like  enough,  had  never  engaged  the  curiosity 
of  the  world.  Stories  as  sinister  and  sad 
have  oozed  from  the  shades  of  the  Bastille, 
of  the  Conciergerie,  of  Bicetre,  of  the 
Chatelet — stories  which  never  had  audience, 
or  which  have  lain  for  generations  among 
forgotten  things.  But  the  mask  has  per- 
petuated itself;  and,  so  simple  as  it  proves, 
it  has  kept  alive,  through  an  infinity  of 
changes,  the  memory  of  the  prisoner  whom 
it  hid. 


Q.  E,  D. 


351 


And  the  mask  was  really  nothing. 

From    the    instrument   of    torture    invented 
by    Voltaire,   it    shrinks    to  the  little    fashion- 
able    shield    of    black     velvet     which     every 
Italian     gentleman     had     in     his     wardrobe ; 
which  was  de  rigueur  in   Carnival  time  ;    and 
which     both     Mattioli      and     the     Duke      of 
Mantua  used  as  a  matter  of  course   in  their 
private   interviews   with    d'Estrades.       In   the 
Legend,    the     mask     is     everything  :     in     the 
true,     documentary    history    of    the     Masked 
Man    it    figures    scarcely   at   all.      We   know 
from    Du    Juncas    Journal   that    the    prisoner 
was    masked    when   he   entered    the    Bastille ; 
but    this    is    the    first    official    notice    on    the 
subject.     No   document   attests  that   he  wore 
the     mask     at     Pignerol     or     at     the     Isles. 
Saint-Mars  does   not   anywhere  allude    to  it; 
nor  is  there  any   injunction  about   a  mask  in 
any   despatch    from   Versailles.       Louis    XIV. 
never   gave   the   order  which   has  been  attri- 


V 


352         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

buted  to  him  ;  Louvois  never  gave  it ;  Bar- 
bezieux  never  gave  it.  Up  to  the  date  of 
the  entry  into  the  Bastille,  the  mask  seems 
to  have  been  not  much  more  than  an  acci- 
dent of  the  history;  there  is  only  the 
statement  in  the  Prudenza  trionfante  di 
Casaie  that  the  prisoner  was  masked  by  the 
persons  who  arrested  him. 

We  have  it  from  Du  Junca  that  in  the 
Bastille  the  prisoner  was  ''  masked  always.'' 
Without  the  least  straining  at  the  facts 
this  may  be  interpreted  to  mean  that  he 
wore  his  mask  whenever  there  was  occa- 
sion for  him  to  be  seen.  And  this  the 
prisoner  may  have  done  of  choice  ;  there 
are  times  and  seasons  in  prison  when  it 
would  be  a  convenience  and  a  relief  to 
possess  this  ready  means  of  disguising  one- 
self. 

Pere    Griffet,    chaplain   of   the    Bastille    in 

I745>  observes  in   his  Methode  de  Hiistoire  : 


C   E.   D. 


353 


I 


>  til 


i 


''  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  he  was 
obliged  to  wear  his  mask  when  alone  in 
his  chamber,  or  in  the  presence  of  de 
Rosarges  or  the  governor,  by  whom  he 
was  perfectly  well  known."  If  compelled 
to  wear  it  at  all,  ^*it  would  only  be  when 
he  crossed  the  courtyard  to  attend  mass, 
in  order  that  he  might  not  be  recognised 
by  the  sentinels,  or  when  some  person  on 
the  staff,  not  privy  to  the  secret,  was  sent 
into  his  chamber.'*  On  the  whole,  it  might 
be  conjectured  that  the  mask  was  an  in- 
spiration of  Saint-Mars  when  he  fetches 
his  prisoner  from  the  Isles  to  the  Bastille,! 
and  that  it  was  afterwards  adopted  by  the 
prisoner  himself,  who  secured  thereby  the 
slight   liberty   or   relief  of  the    incognito. 

But,  let  the  origin  of  its  employment 
have  been  what  it  may,  this  velvet  vizor 
was  to  bear  a  part  not  less  than  astonish- 
ing    in     the     fable     of    the     Masked     Man. 

23 


354        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 
This   was   not   only  natural,  but,   in  a  sense, 
inevitable.        I     believe     that     the     Legend 
itself      had     no      other      genesis     than    the 
mystery     of     the     mask.      The      sense      of 
surprise     which    it    produced    in     Du    Junca 
was      immediately      communicated      to      the 
whole    staff   of   the    Bastille.     Time    flowed, 
but    the   mask   was    still   the    great    memory 
and  tradition    of   the  fortress.      The  prisoner 
himself—"  Marchiel,"     "  Marchioly,"    Mattioli 
—remained     unknown:    Du    Junca's    Journal 
was     not     yet     laid     bare,     the    St.      Paul's 
register     was      a     sealed    book,     the     State 
documents     had     not     become     the     nation's 
property.     But    the   steady, .  continuous,    and 
provocative   tradition   of    the   mask   lived    on 
within    the    walls    of    the    Bastille.       There 
it      was     found     by      the      many      students, 
philosophers,    and    men    of    letters    who    lay 
behind    those    bolts    for     longer    or    shorter 
terms    in    the    eighteenth    century.     Voltaire 


Q.  E.  D. 


355 


k 


II 


was  imprisoned  in  the  Bastille  in  1717, 
and  again,  for  a  few  days  (most  unjustly), 
in  1726.  Here,  in  the  very  theatre  of 
the  mystery,  these  inquisitive  keen  minds 
got  the  earliest  inkling  of  it  ;  and  one 
poor  shred  of  fact  was  even  then  gather- 
ing to  itself  both  surmise  and  invention. 
It  is  an  officer  of  the  Bastille  who  sees 
in  imagination  the  stripping  and  rehabili- 
tating of  the  prisoner's  cell  :  where,  then, 
would  the  flight  of  a  Voltaire  end  ?  : — whose 
was  the  face  beneath  the  mask  ?  The  men 
of  letters,  released  from  the  Bastille,  fastened 
on  this  rare  enigma ;  and  those  among 
them  who  saw  here  a  means  of  involving 
in  new  discredit  the  imperious  sovereignty 
of  Louis  XIV.,  rose  gladly  to  the  oppor- 
tunity. The  mask,  and  the  reason  of  the 
mask  :  these  were  the  things  to  account 
for.       So,    unquestionably,    did    the    Legend 

begin    to   be. 

23* 


356        THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

But    now,    at    last,    was     Mattioli     indeed 
the   man  ?     It   was   objected   to   Topin,   that 
the   complete   silence   on   this   subject   of  the 
copious   Saint-Simon    (who    has    peeped   into 
almost     every     cupboard    in     the    Court     of 
Louis     XIV.)     made     an     important     count 
against     him.        Topin     shrewdly     saw     that 
Saint-Simon's     silence     made,     not     against, 
but    for    him.     "That    immortal    gossip    has 
in  truth    lighted    up  for    us    the    very    holes 
and   corners   of  Louis    XIV.'s   Court.     From 
its   pettiest    shifts    to   its  innermost   intrigues, 
nothing   has   escaped   him  ;  nothing   that   had 
to    do    with    inner    France.     But   of    foreign 
affairs   he    knew    only   those   that    concerned 
the    end    of   the  reign,   when    they   were    in 
the    hands    of    his     friend     the    Marquis    de 
Torcy.    Earlier    than    this,   he   was    as    igno- 
rant  of  what  passed   beyond   the   borders   of 
France   as   he   was   intimate   with   everything 
at   passed   within   them.     His   silence,  then, 


\-^ 


\\: 


Q,  E.  D, 


357 


which  would  be  more  than  strange  if  it 
were  possible  to  trace  the  Mask  to  a 
family  of  France,  is  its  own  interpreta- 
tion if  the  prisoner  were  a  foreigner, 
arrested  beyond  the  French  frontier,  and 
as  early  as  1679/'  * 

This  is  distinctly  suggestive  ;  though,  as 
testimony,  it  has  of  course,  only  a  negative 
value.  We  come  closer.  At  whatever  point 
in  the  enquiry  the  mysterious  prisoner  is 
named,  there  has  Mattioli  been  found  ;  and 
to  no  other  among  the  prisoners  of  Saint- 
Mars  has  the  term  proved  applicable.  The 
political  role  of  Mattioli  has  been  defined, 
the  circumstances  set  forth  in  which  he  fell 
under  the  vengeance  of  Louis  XIV.,  and 
incurred  that  terrible  punishment — inflicted, 
as  Maurice  Boutry  says,  "  dans  si  grand 
secret/*  We  have  the  King*s  order  for  his 
arrest   with   the   particular  injunction  that  no 

*  Topin. 


( 


358         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK, 

one  IS  ever  to  know  what  becomes  of  him  ; 
we  have  Catinat's  report  of  the  seizure  of 
Mattioli,  so  well  contrived  that  even  the 
officers  who  assisted  him  were  ignorant  of 
the  prisoner's  name  ;  we  have  the  witness 
of  the  Prudenza  trionfante  di  C as  ale,  in 
which  the  transaction  is  described  from 
the  beginning.  This  was  the  man  whom 
Louis  XIV.  destined  to  end  his  life  in 
prison,  and  from  the  hour  that  he  entered 
Pignerol  he  has  been  observed,  followed, 
step  by  step,  to  the  night  of  his  death  in  the 
Bastille. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  proof  does  not 
end  here.  It  is  shown  in  the  Journal  of 
Du  Junca  that  the  prisoner  whom  Saint-Mars 
brought  masked  from  the  Isles  was  an  ancient 
prisoner  who  had  been  in  his  ke(::ping  at 
Pignerol,  the  first  of  Mattioli's  three  dungeons, 
and  the  one  in  which  he  remained  when  other 
prisoners    were    transferred    with    Saint-Mars 


B 

e 

ft* 


o 

I 

I 

i 


5? 

a 
o 


e 


r 

a 


(2.  E.  z>. 


361 


to  Exiles.  Du  Junca  has  made  Pignerol 
essential  in  the  history  of  the  Mask.  We 
come  now  to  the  axiomatic  proof  of  M.  Funck- 
Brentano.  The  reader  was  asked  to  bear] 
in  mind  the  despatch  of  Louvois  to  Saint- 
Mars  (June  9,  1 681)  enclosing  instructions 
for  the  journey  of  the  two  prisoners  who  were 
to  be  taken  from  Pignerol  to  Exiles.  The/ 
despatch  speaks  then  of  the  prisoners  whoj 
were  left,  and  their  number  is  precisely 
shown,  the  Sieur  du  Chamoy  having  orders  to 
pay  **  two  crowns  a  day  for  the  maintenance 
of  these  three  prisoners T      It  is  certain  then 

that  there  were  just  five  prisoners  in  Pignerol 

( 
on    the    eve    of    Saint-Mars's    departure    for 

Exiles,  and  since  we  know  from  Du  Junca 
that  the  Mask  was  an  old  prisoner  of  Saint- 
Mars  at  Pignerol,  it  is  among  these  five  that 
we  must  inevitably  find  him.  All  the  five 
are  known  to  us  ;  their  names  have  happened 
in  these  pages  : — 


362         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


THE   FIVE   PRISONERS. 


EUSTACHE  DaUGER. 


La  RivifeRE. 
The  Jacobin, 
dubreuil. 
Mattioli. 


THEIR    FATE. 

A  prisoner  of  so  little  conse- 
quence that  he  was  assigned  as  a 
servant  to  Fouquet  in  Pignerol, 
while  Mattioli,  in  the  same  prison, 
was  still  in  the  strictest  seclusion. 

Died  in  December,  1686. 

Died  at  the  close  of  1693. 

Died  at  the  Isles,  1697. 


A  Euclid  could  give  the  result  no  plainer. 
As  M.  Funck-Brentano  observes,  with  a  just 
complacency,  it  is  mathematical.  There  are 
five :  the  first  is  dismissed  on  his  merits  ; 
the  three  that  follow  are  dead  before  Saint- 
Mars  sets  out  for  the  Bastille — and  Mattioli 
alone  remains.  De  facto,  it  was  Mattioli 
whom  Saint-Mars  conveyed  in  the  mask  from 
the  Isles  of  Sainte-Marguerite  to  the  Bastille 
in  1698.  Mattioli  was  the  hidden  prisoner 
whom  we  have  kept  touch  of  throughout. 


(2.   E,  D. 


363 


There  are  two  very  curious  corrobora- 
tions of  the  documentary  evidence,  deriving 
their  value  from  the  fact  that  they  antedate 
by  many  years  the  earliest  mention  of  the 
name  of  Mattioli.  The  last  King  of  France 
who  appears  to  have  known  the  history  was 
Louis  XV.  Importuned  by  the  Due  de 
Choiseul  to  reveal  the  prisoner's  name,  the 
King  would  only  say  that  **all  the  con- 
jectures which  had  been  made  hitherto  upon 
this  subject  were  false.''  Madame  de  Pom- 
padour  was  then  engaged  to  press  for  a 
definite  reply ;  and  the  King  at  last  informed 
her  that  the  prisoner  of  the  mask  was  the 
''  Ministe}^  of  an  Italian  Prince^  * 

Still  more  explicit  is  Madame  Campan,  in 
the  Memoirs  of  Marie  Antoinette.  During 
the  first  few  months  of  his  reign  Louis  XVI. 

*  Dutens :  La  Correspondance  Interceptie.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
the  ''Memoirs  "  of  Baron  de  Gleichen,  Louis  XV.  is  represented  as 
refusing  to  give  up  the  secret.  If  he  knew  it,  there  was  no  reason 
why,  at  this  date,  he  should  not  give  it  up. 


364         THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 

was  much  occupied,  says  Madame  Campan, 
with  the  revision  of  his  grandfather's  papers. 
He  had  promised  to  share  with  the  Queen 
''  whatever  he  might  find  upon  the  history 
of  the  Man  with  the  Iron  Mask,  who,  he 
thought,  had  become  so  inexhaustible  a 
source  of  conjecture  merely  because  of  the 
interest  which  a  celebrated  writer  had 
excited    in    the    detention    of    a    prisoner    of 

State/' 

''  I  was  with  the  Queen,''  continues  Madame 
Campan,  ''  when  the  King,  having  finished 
his  researches,  told  her  that  he  had  found 
nothing  in  the  secret  papers  which  bore 
in  any  way  on  the  existence  of  this  prisoner ; 
that  he  had  referred  to  M.  de  Maurepas, 
whose  age  brought  him  nearer  the  time 
when  the  affair  must  have  been  known 
to  the  ministers,  and  that  M.  de  Maurepas 
had  assured  him  that  the  prisoner  was  merely 
a  person   of  a    very   dangerous   character  by 


\ 


Q.   E,  D,  365 

reason  of  his  intriguing  spirit,  and  a 
subject  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua.  He  was 
enticed  to  the  frontier,  arrested,  and  kept  a 
prisoner,  first   at  Pignerol,  and  then    in   the 

Bastiller  * 

There,  in  five  lines,  Madame  Campan  has 
given  us  the  entire  history,  and  in  terms 
literally  and  absolutely  correct.  She  does 
not  know  the  name  of  Mattioli,  she  is 
writing  at  a  time  when  no  one  in  France 
knows  it,  and  when  there  has  not  been  as  yet 

*  Madame  Campan  adds  :  "  Such  was  in  fact  the  real  truth  about 
the  man  on  whom  people  have  been  pleased  to  fix  an  iron  mask.     And 

thus  was  it  related  in  writing,  and  published  by  M ,  twenty  years 

ago.  He  had  searched  the  depot  of  foreign  affairs,  and  there  he  had 
found  the  truth  :  he  had  laid  it  before  the  public ;  but  the  public 
prepossessed  in  favour  of  a  version  which  attracted  them  by  the  mar- 
vellous, would  not  acknowledge  the  authenticity  of  the  true  account. 
Everyone  relied  upon  the  authority  of  Voltaire  :  and  it  is  still  believed 
that  a  natural  or  a  twin  brother  of  Louis  XIV.  lived  a  number  of  years 
in  prison  with  a  mask  over  his  face.  The  whimsical  story  of  this  mask, 
perhaps,  had  its  origin  in  the  old  custom,  among  both  men  and  women 
in  Italy,  of  wearing  a  velvet  mask  when  they  exposed  themselves  to  the 
sun:  It  is  possible  the  Italian  captive  may  have  shown  himself  some- 
times upon  the  terrace  of  his  prison  with  his  face  thus  covered." 


366 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


a  single  word  about  him  in  connection  with 
the  mystery  of  the  Mask  ;  yet  the  whole 
truth  is  there.  It  is  Duke  Charles's  envoy  : 
d'Estrades  lures  him  to  the  frontier  :  Catinat 
arrests  him  ;  Saint-Mars  has  him  at  Pignerol, 
at  the  Isles,  and  in  the  Bastille.  It  is 
Mattioli's  story  in  a  nutshell.  Madame 
Campan's  sympathy  with  her  subject  no- 
where betrays  her  into  loose  or  inaccurate 
statements  ;  and  had  she  been  inventing  in 
this  instance  it  would  have  been  the  most 
extraordinary  example  of  invention  in  all 
literature.  * 

With    the    official    documents    which    bear 


*  In  the  essay  in  the  Revue  des  Etudes  Historiques^  June-July, 
1899,  in  which  he  substantiates  the  proofs  of  M.  Funck-Brentano, 
Vicomte  Maurice  Boutry  has  produced  a  confirmatory  passage  from  the 
Souvenirs  of  the  Marquise  de  Crequy.  Summing  up  a  discussion  on 
the  Iron  Mask  between  Marshal  de  Noailles,  the  Duchess  de  Luynes, 
the  Due  de  Broncas  and  others,  the  Marquise  adds  :  "  The  leading  and 
best-informed  persons  of  my  time  always  considered  that  that  famous 
history  had  no  other  foundation  than  the  capture  and  imprisonment  of 
the  Piedmontese  Mattioli.  Voltaire's  details  are  the  most  ridiculous 
fable."  Interesting,  but  of  most  questionable  authenticity.  Was 
there  ever  a  Marquise  de  Crequy  ? 


\\ 


Q.   E.    D, 


367 


them    out,     these     pregnant     passages    make 

good  the  case. 

So  the  task  is  ended,  the  burden  of  the 
mystery  rolls  off:  Mattioli  the  Italian  takes 
the  place  of  that  impossible  romantic  creature 
who  has  so  long  usurped  it.  The  historic 
truth  of  the  affair  is  best,  though  we  lose  a 
Prince  who  never  lived.  For  a  tragi-colour-d 
myth  we  exchange  a  living  tragedy  ;  a  tragedy 
prolonged  above  the  ordinary  miseries  of 
men.  The  punishment  of  Mattioli,  through 
four  -  and  -  twenty  years,  for  a  single  act 
of  treachery,  the  effect  of  which  was 
transient,  takes  something  from  the  splen- 
dours of  the  reign  in  which    it  was  inflicted. 

With  his  unfailing  sense  of  dramatic  con- 
trast, Topin  has  noted  that  at  the  very  hour 
of  Mattioli's  unhee4ed  jj^atji.  9^  a  pallet  in 
the  Bastille,  diaries*  k- %^fanttaa*.*'&EriVed  on  a 
visit  to  Louis  pCJVj: -Did  :I^Oufe,, -who-,  lavished 
on  his  guest  the  'riches    of  *  the  *Luxe*mbourg, 


v^ 


•  • 


•  • 


•      • 


•     •     • 


368 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  IRON  MASK. 


tell  him  the  fate  of  his  ancient  favourite  ? 
It  would  have  been  heard  by  Charles  as 
carelessly  as  Louis  would  have  told  it. 
Scarce  a  bowshot  from  the  palace,  two  turn- 
keys of  the  Bastille  were  trailing  Mattioli 
in  the  dusk  to  a  grave  in  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Paul. 


\\ 


k 


CONCLUSION. 


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